An Unexpected Adventure
by Maiden of the Forests
Summary: Karra is a (mostly) normal college girl living her (mostly) normal life. But then one day she is mysteriously dropped into a world she knows nearly nothing of. What happens when she is picked up by a company of dwarves on a quest? Fili/OC.
1. Chapter 1-Introducing Karra McPherson

_**Disclaimer: **__The only thing I own in this story is my OC, Karra. I wish I owned...well, certain characters (hehe!) but such is the fate of a fangirl. _

_**And Another Disclaimer: **__This story is inspired __by __The Inconvenient and Unexpected Journey of Millie Fournier__ by kiliyousosilly, __The Awkward Adventures of Meghan Whimblesby __by FebruarySong, and __The Adventures of Estela and Addonenniel __by Luna Elen. So if you see anything that looks like I might have gotten an idea from one of those stories, I probably did. Now you can't slam me for plagiarism or anything like that. :D And besides, they are all awesome authors and totally deserve the credit. :)_

_**Author's Note: **__This first chapter has been rewritten like six times. So you had better like it! :D_

* * *

**Chapter 1-Introducing Karra McPherson **

Karra sighed as she stared at the snow falling outside her window. Why did it always have to snow on nights she had plans?

Her phone beeped. Text.

_Im really sorry…..i think im going to have to cancel, _her friend Kat had texted. _its snowing too hard and it might be dangerous. i guess you'll just have to meet HIM some other time too_

_Wait a minute, HE was coming? _Karra texted back with a giggle. _You do realize this is the 4th 'him' that you've tried to hook me up with. Lemme guess, he's tall dark and handsome. _

_Right, _came the reply. _and whenever you do get a chance to meet him you'll love him_

_You said that the last three times. And its the 'tall' part that always gets me. _Karra was laughing now. _I'd much prefer you find someone short and handsome, thank you. No awkward height difference, you know. _Karra _was _short, and just about every guy on the college complex knew it quite well, thanks to her friend's efforts to hook her up with a man. At 18 years old, she only stood 4 and a half feet tall, and she was getting rather tired of the '_tall,_ dark, and handsome' thing. And how many times did she have to tell Kat that when it came to looks, light haired men were really her thing?

_Yeah, well, im absolutely sure he'll love you, too, _Kat texted back. _I promise I'll schedule something. sorry we had to cancel. see ya sometime! :D bye _

_Kay, bye. _Karra slumped back on her bed. Well, now that her dinner with her friend, and apparently, _the dream guy,_ was cancelled, she had the whole evening to herself. She absently fingered the key that hung around her neck, wondering what she was supposed to do with herself.

The key…..she had had that trinket since, well, almost since before she could remember. She nearly always wore it around her neck, as a sort of keepsake of her dad, who had disappeared when she was three. She didn't remember much about him, only that he had given her that key before he had….gone away. It was an odd sort of key, sort of angular, but sort of pretty in its own way, too. Running her fingers over its shape, she thought of her mom. She hadn't called her lately…..

Nah. Her mom had always been distant, but ever since Karra had left for college, she had grown even more so. Karra had found it harder and harder to talk to her lately. So she had taken to not calling her as much, and gradually, she had gotten into the habit of not calling her at all. She knew she should, but…..oh well, maybe she could find _something _else to do with her evening.

She absently ran her fingers through her hair, which she had braided up into some sort of a style for the dinner with Kat. Her thick, reddish-auburn hair was undoubtedly her best feature, and she took every opportunity she had to play with it. Actually, its thickness tended to be kind of a nuisance sometimes, so she usually _had _to do something with it; pull it back just to get it out of her way. She kept it shoulder length for convenience's sake, but she liked playing with various braids and styles. Tonight, she had done a French braid across the top of her head, blending into a couple of braids down the back.

_Well, I guess I might as well change out of my dress clothes, _she thought, realizing she was still dressed, complete with high heels, for a dinner at a nice restaurant. She began to fan herself with a picture of her mom and dad that was sitting on a table beside her; it was a bit hot and stuffy in here.

Wait a minute—hot and stuffy? It was _snowing _outside. It really _shouldn't _be _hot and stuffy _in here. Maybe the apartment complex was having some sort of heater malfunction….that had actually happened before. It was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on her. The room seemed to darken….oh, great, was the electricity having a problem, too?

She was suddenly conscious of a strange white glow. How odd….where was that coming from…..wait a minute, it was coming from her! In shocked surprise, she pulled the key out from under her shirt, realizing that it was actually _glowing. _With trembling fingers, she unfastened the chain it hung on. A cool white glow emanated from it, almost making the room around her seem dark. She stared in amazement and confusion. What was happening? Was she dreaming?

The glow seemed to grow, almost hurting her eyes. It was surrounding her…she was floating in white….a moment later, sudden darkness enveloped her.

* * *

The first thing Karra heard was the sound of a bird chirping. A fresh breeze blew past her. She felt grass below her. She opened her eyes slowly. Little wispy clouds floated in the blue sky above her. She ran her fingers through the grass, enjoying the feeling for a moment.

Wait a minute. Birds? Breeze? Grass? _Sky? _She was supposed to be in her apartment. At night. _In January. _She sat up rather quickly and gazed about her. This wasn't _right. _Oh, yes, she was definitely dreaming. She had to be.

Well, since it was a dream, she might as well enjoy the fresh breeze before she woke up. It _was _rather nice here. She sighed and leaned back against a tree. This was kind of a welcome break from her apartment in the city, even if it was a dream.

But oddly enough, it didn't really _feel _like a dream, or it was an especially vivid dream. After all, it didn't usually hurt to sit on something sharp in a dream, which Karra had just done, and subsequently let out a yelp of discomfort. After clearing the offending stone out of the way, she sat back against the tree and waited for herself to wake up. If she did wake up. She had to. This was a dream. It had to be.

But she didn't wake up. As a matter of fact, after a bit, she began to feel rather sleepy. Ummm…..sleepy? In a dream? Okay, this was just plain _wrong. _For the first time, she began to seriously wonder what was happening. There was absolutely no way she be sleepy in a dream, she thought, jerking herself awake.

Was this a hallucination? No, that couldn't be right either. First of all, _why _would she be hallucinating? It wasn't like she had passed out or anything like that. And besides, this was all just way too _real. _She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face, the grass beneath her, the tree bark on her back. You just wouldn't have all those details in a hallucination or a dream.

But surely it couldn't be _real_! It couldn't…it couldn't. This was just too strange. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream, or….or….something else! It had to be!

But what if it was…..real?! Suddenly Karra felt the entirely reasonable panic of someone who had just realized that they were randomly transported somewhere without a clue of where they are seizing her. She clutched the key tighter in her hand and tried to calm down.

The key. She was still holding it. Her hands shaking slightly, she fastened the chain back around her neck and slipped the key back beneath her shirt, where she normally kept it hidden.

_Don't panic, _she told herself. _Don't panic. I must find out what's happening. I must. _

Just as she was about to stand up and recklessly head off in a random direction in the hopes of finding something or someone, she heard voices.

Voices. That meant people. Forcing herself to calm down a bit, she decided to sit back down and wait for whoever it was to come along and find her. Perhaps they could give her some information about where she was.

Whoever they were, they were obviously having some sort of conversation. Karra perked up her ears to listen; perhaps she could get an idea of who was coming. Various bits of conversation drifted to her. She heard the words, 'quest,' 'hobbit,' 'Erebor.'

Erebor? What was that supposed to mean? And where had she heard the word 'hobbit' before? Suddenly something about this seemed vaguely familiar. She searched the corners of her mind, trying to figure out what it was.

Before she had time to figure much of anything out, a rather large group of people riding horses came around a bend. No, wait, they were riding ponies. Karra was surprised to note that they were all about the same height as her. The people, that is, not the ponies. All except one of them—a person, that is—who was a _lot _taller than the others and riding a regular horse. Then she noticed that they were all dressed rather oddly, maybe like people out of the medieval times or something like that. The tall one wore a grey pointy hat. What was that…..a wizard? Oh, gosh, this kept getting weirder and weirder.

Suddenly it dawned on her why this all seemed so familiar. Hobbit—the Hobbit—J.R.R. Tolkien! She remembered her dad reading that book to her when she was _very _little. All she remembered about it was that it had something to do with a dragon….dwarves…..and a Hobbit….whatever a Hobbit was. Oh my goodness, this could _not _be happening! Was she inside a _book_?!

She processed all this in the short amount of time it took for the company to approach her. As they came closer, she departed whether to run and hide behind a tree or start jumping and waving her arms in an effort to get their attention. She decided on the latter. Well, sort of.

"Hello?" she quavered, standing up rather quickly and trying to look determined, and probably failing.

The entire company came to a stop and stared at her.

"Sorry to interrupt your, um, quest, but, um, I'm kind of lost and I need, um, help!" she fumbled.

"And what would a dwarf woman be doing lost in the lands near the Shire?" the tall one with the pointy hat—Karra thought she remembered that his name was Ganolf or something like that—spoke.

"Umm…..I don't exactly know! I just kind of ended up here. And I'm not a dwarf." Well, she'd been called worse.

"Not a dwarf, she says!" exclaimed one of them. "Well, are you a tall Hobbit or a short Woman?" It was obvious he was teasing her. She flushed slightly.

"And dressed oddly, too," added another. Karra suddenly realized how strange she must look to them, with her obviously _different _dress clothes, and her high heels. Her flush grew.

"Who are you?" asked another.

"I don't know!" she blurted out. "I mean, my name is Karra McPherson. But I have no idea how I got here."

"We shouldn't leave a lady alone in the wild," another observed.

"The Shire is but a three day's walk from here," Ganolf—_was _that his name?—said, not unkindly. "The folk there would be quite glad to help you."

Karra glanced uncomfortably down at her shoes. Three day's walk? No. "I'd be more likely to get lost," she replied. "I really don't know this place at all, and….I'm not sure I can walk that far."

"Are you hurt?" one of the people (_Dwarves, _as she supposed they were) asked.

"Not really….." _But my feet would hurt,_ she thought, not exactly sure what to say. "But these shoes….they're just not real good for walking, and….." her flush deepened even more, realizing she had called attention to her _odd _shoes. "Well….."

"As I said," said the same dwarf who had spoken earlier, "We should not leave the lass alone in the wilderness."

"Are you suggesting that we let her accompany us on our quest?" retorted another. "That would only put _her _in danger!"

"And how do we know she's not a spy of some sort?" asked someone else. Karra gasped, genuine shock on her face.

"A spy?!" she exclaimed. "Who would I be a spy _for_?!"

One of the other dwarves shrugged. "Doesn't seem too dangerous, if you ask me." Karra rather wished they would stop talking about her in third person; she was standing right there, for goodness sakes!

She got her wish. One of the others turned her direction. "You," he said. It was obvious the others had some respect for him, for when he spoke, all heads turned his direction. "Tell me exactly where you have come from and what you are doing here."

"Well…." Karra began. "I guess you could say it's a very far away land. And I guess you could say I got…..lost, and ended up here. All I want is to know is where I am and…..some help, I guess." Glancing down at her feet again, she added, "And I'm not sure I can walk three days to this Shire place."

The leader of the company looked her up and down, as if examining her for truthfulness. Karra felt her flush deepen even more, and she looked away.

Finally he spoke. "A dwarf woman lost in the wilderness near the Shire is indeed rather strange," he said slowly. "It does seem as if she might have been planted in our path for one reason or another." He turned to the others. "What think you?" he asked.

"Seems suspicious to me," said one, the same one that had asked if she was a spy.

"I would say that spy or no, we cannot leave a lady lost and alone," said another.

"But to allow her to travel with us would only put her in danger!" exclaimed another.

"I say she's a spy," said that same one. Karra glared at him.

"We can at least escort her to the nearest town," interjected one who hadn't spoken yet. He was obviously younger and had had lighter hair, with a slight beard. Karra thought him rather handsome. "There she might find someone who could take care of her."

Soon all of the others were chiming in with suggestions, and pretty soon everyone was talking at once. Karra looked back and forth between various people, trying to figure out what was happening, and whether her fate was being decided, or whether they were all just arguing pointlessly. She was just about to plop down back against the tree and put her head in her hands when the leader spoke.

"Enough!" he shouted, and everyone stopped rather quickly. "Enough," he said more quietly. After a moment of tense silence, he spoke again. "She may travel with us until we find a place for her."

Karra let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to have to walk three days back to this 'Shire' whatever that was! She was quite happy….for a moment. That is, until she realized she would have to ride on one of their ponies.

"We have no extra ponies," she heard the handsome light haired one saying. Turning to her, he offered, "You may ride with me." As she approached him, he offered her his hand to help her up.

"I've….I've never ridden…anything…before," Karra mumbled. All the same, she took his hand, and between her awkward efforts and his help, she managed to get up on the pony behind him. After a moment or so of wondering if she should or not, she finally decided that she _would _put her arms around his waist to steady herself, no matter how awkward it was. He didn't seem to mind.

"Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield, at least for a little while," he said, turning around as best he could to look at her. "My name is Fili."

"I'm Karra," she replied. "Oh, I guess you already know that. Is your name seriously Fili? That's weird." She realized how rude it sounded after it came out of her mouth. Why did she have to be so darn _awkward_?!

Fili didn't seem insulted. Instead he just grinned at her and said, "I might say that your name is strange, only I chose not to."

Karra bit her lip. "Sorry. Umm…..since I'll be traveling with you, at least for a little bit, could you introduce me to the rest of the company?"

"Of course. Over there on the brown pony is my brother Kili…." And Fili gave her the names of the rest of the company, including Bilbo Baggins and _Gandalf. _Of course, that was his name. But all the rest of the names….they were all just as odd, and they all rhymed. How the heck was she supposed to remember all of them, and then actually remember who they _belonged _to? Oh, well, maybe she wouldn't be with the company long enough that she would _need _to.

"I heard the word _quest. _Could you tell me what kind of _quest _this is?" Karra asked out of honest curiosity; also, she wondered how much she actually remembered about The Hobbit.

Fili seemed a bit hesitant, and it suddenly struck Karra that he probably wouldn't want to tell the details of their quest to a complete stranger. After a moment, he said, "It is a long tale."

"Well, we have a long time, don't we?" Karra said cheerily.

"Very well," he replied. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. My great grandfather, Thror, King Under the Mountain…."

And Fili told her the whole tale, with frequent interruptions from Karra. First he had to explain to her what and where Erebor was, and then he had to explain _exactly _what Smaug was, and then she needed to know what a hobbit was, and so on. He seemed a bit perplexed by her confusion, but answered her questions readily…..with just a bit of teasing. The story took up most of the afternoon, including a short stop for lunch, and after the tale was finished, Fili left Karra to think about what she had just heard.

And think she did. This all sounded slightly familiar, but only slightly. She remembered _liking _The Hobbit as a kid, but she didn't remember much about the _story. _She was really beginning to wonder what was happening. Was she _really _inside a book? And how….?

Finally she gave up trying to reason it out and fell to examining the other members of the party. She had decided that the dwarf she rode behind was really quite handsome, his brother was downright _cute, _and Thorin Oakenshield was fairly attractive, in a regal, distant kind of way, and she was just beginning to analyze various dwarves' hairstyles, when she began to get rather sleepy. The afternoon was beginning to seem very long, and the sun very bright. The scenery was….well, the scenery was pretty, but the sun was so bright, and warm…

She closed her eyes, hoping Fili wouldn't mind if she leaned on him.

_This isn't a dream, _was the last thing she thought as she drifted off to sleep, her head leaning on the golden-haired dwarf's shoulder.

* * *

_Alright, I hope you liked it, because there will most assuredly be more! I have about a third of this written out on my computer, so the next chapter I'm writing will be far ahead of the next chapter I'm posting. Hopefully I'll stay about 13 chapters ahead of myself. _Hopefully. _If I start procrastinating, just give me a little kick in the….well, you know what I'm saying. _

…_..review? _


	2. Chapter 2-Ponies are Uncomfortable

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own The Hobbit. Or any of the other character, except Karra. If only….but oh well. I don't think I need to say it again (be sure I will tell you when I do get a hold of any of the characters coughFiliandKilicough). So no more disclaimers from now on. _

_**Author's Note: **__I could have very well posted this chapter a couple of days ago, but I only have 15 chapters written, and I don't want to catch up to myself too soon! This chapter starts pretty much exactly where the last one left off, with Karra waking up riding behind Fili. _

* * *

**Chapter 2-Ponies and High Heels are Uncomfortable**

The first thing Karra noticed when she woke up was that her bottom was very sore. And then she noticed it was getting somewhat dark. And _then _she noticed that she had her head on Fili's shoulder. She sat up quickly, wincing at the soreness in her, um, behind. How embarrassing. She had just slept most of the afternoon with her head on the shoulder of a guy who she had only just met a couple of hours ago. She realized as he turned around, noticing that she had woken, how unappealing she must look. She knew without touching it that her hair was a complete mess, and she must look horribly groggy.

"Ah you're awake now." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "Did thinking of dragons put you to sleep?"

"I guess I slept all afternoon," Karra mumbled. "Sorry."

"Sorry? And why would that be a bad thing?"

"Because….oh, I don't know." Had she just been about to say, _I just met you, and I had my head on your shoulder for hours_? He was probably inwardly laughing at her awkwardness. "Are we stopping soon? Because I'm really ready to get off this beast."

Fili smirked. "Beast?"

"I've never ridden before. I don't think I like horses."

"This, my dwarf-lady, is a pony."

Karra felt irritation rising in her. "I'm not a dwarf," she said through her teeth. "And besides, being that I don't really know much about horses—I mean ponies—I really shouldn't be expected to know that."

"I suspect you're only reacting like this because you just woke up," Fili said mildly.

Karra flushed. "I officially declare this conversation ended," she said sharply. "Seriously, are we stopping soon?"

Just then, as if by some secret signal, the whole company stopped.

"Well, I guess that answers my question," Karra stated. She was ignored.

Soon everyone was unloading. Karra managed to get down off the cursed, uncomfortable _beast _—she would call it that, no matter what anyone said—with a good deal of help from Fili, mostly consisting of him swinging her down off the pony with his arms around her waist, and her ending up a good bit closer to him than she would have liked. With a fair amount of flushing and some slightly awkward giggling on her part, she quickly stepped back a bit, and then walked off to watch camp being made.

The first thing she did was to take off her somewhat uncomfortable dress shoes and pull her hairstyle down. While she was running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle it (that was the nuisance of her hair—it seemed to get tangled so easily), she caught Kili staring at her.

"Oh, stop that, you," she snapped. "Haven't you ever seen a lady combing her hair before?"

"I was simply thinking that most dwarf women have a good deal more hair than you," he commented lightly.

"I always thought my hair was really thick," she said shortly.

"Oh, I was talking about facial hair," said Kili, a slight smirk on his face. "Most dwarf women have a good deal of facial hair."

Karra stopped 'combing' her hair for a moment. "Wait a minute, are you saying that dwarf women have beards?" Kili simply nodded, still with that annoying _(though kind of cute) _smirk. Karra shook her head. "Ew…that's kind of gross."

"On the contrary," Fili broke into the conversation, "I think it's rather appealing."

"You actually like…..? You have a really weird taste in women." Both of them smirked at her now. She shook her head and said, "You guys are weird," before walking off to the outskirts to watch camp being made.

As she sat on the fringes of camp, she began to reflect on what a strange day it had been. It had begun….why, it had begun in the evening! What time was it in her world? Her world. What a strange thought, another world. Where was she? And what was happening? She sighed and leaned back against a rock, which really wasn't too comfortable. What if she was trapped in this _alternate reality _forever? She was inside a book. It might have helped if she had read The Hobbit more recently, she thought. She inadvertently let her thoughts drift in a morbid direction. What if something horrible happened to her here and she….never mind. She wasn't going to even _think _of that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and she was rather glad.

"It's supper time," Bilbo said gently. "I thought you might want to know."

"What?...Oh, thanks." She stood up and wiped her dress clothes off. Maybe when she woke up next morning, she would be in her apartment. Comforting herself with the thought, she headed towards the campfire. Riding a pony all day _did _make one rather hungry, after all.

* * *

The first thing Karra thought the next morning was that her alarm hadn't gone off. The next thing she thought was that she had an important class at 8:00 that she really couldn't afford to miss, and she now hated her alarm clock. The _next _thing she thought was…

She flew up and stared around her. This was _not _her apartment! As a matter of fact, this wasn't even a bedroom. She suddenly realized that she was dreadfully uncomfortable. She felt like she had been sleeping on the _ground _all night. For that matter, the bed below her felt like the ground. Wait a minute—it was the ground!

Suddenly all the events of yesterday flooded back into her memory. She was inside a _book_! How could this be happening? She had felt sure she would wake up in her apartment this morning. And she was still here.

It appeared everyone else was up and having breakfast. She reluctantly sat up and slipped on her shoes. High heels were _not _good camping shoes. Neither were dress clothes good camping clothes. She distastefully smoothed out her wrinkled clothing and ran her fingers through her hair once again. She could _really _use a comb right now. She pulled her hair back into a short, thick braid. Reluctantly, she pulled a strip of cloth off her shirt to tie it with, realizing she had nothing else. Whatever. By the time she was done with this _adventure, _her clothes would probably be completely ruined anyway.

The first thing she did upon standing up was trip over a rock. Wincing slightly, she picked herself up and headed over to the campfire. As she approached, the white-haired dwarf whose name she actually remembered to be Balin looked up at her, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright, lass?" he asked. "You're limping."

"Oh, it's just these shoes," she mumbled. "They're….uncomfortable."

"I can see why!" he said, rather sympathetically, with an air of asking, what evil person made you wear those torturous things. As Karra sat down, he began to rummage around in his bag, finally coming out with a pair of dwarf boots. "Here," he said, tossing them her direction.

Karra stared in relative horror at the huge boots. How was she supposed to make those things fit her?

"Ummm….thanks?" she said hesitantly. "I…I think they might be a little big for me…." _Well, that was the understatement of the year! _she thought wryly.

"Try pulling the laces tighter," suggested Kili.

Karra rolled her eyes. "Oh, gee thanks for the _genius _suggestion," she said sarcastically. Kili just laughed.

She slipped off her dress shoes (_leave the darn things here to rot, _she thought) and slipped her feet into the large dwarf boots. After pulling the laces as tight as she could, wrapping them _around _the boots several times, pulling _that _as tight as she could, and finally asking for some string, which she did the same thing with, she finally got them fitted well enough. They were still a bit big, but they would do for the time being. At least they were better than her high heels. And with fur inside them, they _were _rather comfortable.

Finally, they were under way again. Riding on a pony for the whole day was _not _very comfortable, as Karra had learned the day before, and learned again that day. She found herself riding behind Fili again, much as she wanted to try her own pony. Despite what he had said, there _was _another pony, but it was apparently being used to carry other various belongings. She asked several times if she could have that one, but he _wouldn't _let her. Oh, he was beginning to _really _get on her nerves.

That evening, Gandalf interrupted her musings on the edge of camp by walking over and sitting down beside her. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk, but she figured she shouldn't insult a wizard. So she said, in as friendly a voice as she could muster, "What is it?"

Gandalf casually took off his hat and set it down beside him. That must mean he's planning on sitting here for a while, Karra thought. "I wish to speak more with you about the manner of your arrival here," he said.

Karra shrugged. "What more do you want to know?"

"Tell me exactly what happened to bring you here, to Middle Earth," he replied. "For it is obvious that you know nothing of this place."

_Is it that obvious, _Karra wanted to ask. She hesitated for a moment. Gandalf, almost seeming to read her mind, said gently, "You need not fear that I will think you mentally unstable."

_Whaa…..how did he know? _Karra shook her head. That was a little eerie. Maybe he _could _read her mind, she thought.

After a slight moment's more hesitation, she began, "Well, I guess it began when I was just sitting in my apartment, being bored…."

Gandalf raised an eyebrow. "Apartment?"

"It's….it's my place of residence," Karra replied, congratulating herself on how proper she had sounded. "My home, I guess you could say. Anyway, as I was saying, I was sitting in my apartment one evening…"

And so she told him the whole story; oddly enough, leaving out the part the key had played in it, though she wasn't exactly sure why. When she was finished, she leaned back against a rock and said, "Well, what's your opinion on all this?"

Gandalf thought for a moment. "This is all very interesting," he finally spoke. "It is remotely possible that you are indeed from another realm, of sorts, and you encountered a portal, or intersection between realms. Although, such a thing has never been known the happen before. And how you could have lived for years so near the location of the portal and have nothing happen is indeed a mystery." He fingered the tip of his hat. "It is also possible that you were dropped here by the Valar."

Karra looked at him blankly. "The Valar?"

"The powers that rule this world," Gandalf explained.

Karra wrinkled her brow. "You mean, like _gods _or something?!"

Gandalf nodded. "Yes, they have been called that."

"That's weird." Karra shook her head, then rather abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know how I can get back?"

Gandalf shook his head. "I know of no way."

Karra sighed. "I thought so," she said dejectedly. "Well, I guess I'll be finding a life here in some town or something. At any rate," and here she glanced up at the dwarves, "I probably won't be with this company much longer."

She didn't know how wrong she was.

* * *

_Random note: in a first draft of this chapter, I had said, 'She simply shook her head and said "You guys are weird," before walking off to the edge to watch camp being made.' I realized a bit later that I had written, 'before walking __**off the edge **__to watch camp being made.' Ah, the mistakes one can make when one is typing too fast._

_If you review, I'll give you Legolas for free. No, seriously, you can have him. _

_Or Thorin. Take your pick. If you review, you can have Legolas or Thorin, for free. ;) _


	3. Chapter 3-Of Dwarven Princes

_**Author's Note: **__This was kind of a weird chapter to write. Generally, I wanted to give the impression of a lot of traveling. I suppose I could have split it up into two chapters, but each section seemed too short to be its own chapter. So, sorry if this chapter seems a little split up or a bit too episodic. _

* * *

**Chapter 3-Of Dwarven Princes and Dwarven Songs**

This was taking a lot longer than Karra expected. She had thought they would travel for, oh, maybe a couple of days, and then she would be dropped off in some town or something. But instead, it seemed the dwarves had chosen a most circuitous route through the wilderness of Middle Earth, through much rocky terrain, many hills, and even some forests. At the very least, Karra was getting rather used to riding every day and camping every night. She was accepted as a temporary member of the Company without much hesitation, and the dwarves amiably included 'the lass' in every conversation and tale.

"You know," she said to Fili, who she always seemed to end up riding behind, one day, "I'm beginning not to mind ponies so much. Now if only I could have my own to ride."

Fili shook his head with a grin. "What do you think, Kili?" he asked. "Do you think we can trust her with a pony?"

Kili shook his head with an equally mischievous grin on his face. "I wouldn't risk it," he said. "She'd probably fall off and break her neck."

Karra rolled her eyes. "I am so riding with somebody else tomorrow," she said lightly. She wasn't at all insulted; she had gotten rather used to their teasing. To her comfort, she wasn't the only one; it seemed that the whole company teased Bilbo terribly, too.

Soon it began to grow dark, and the company came to a stop. Fili slid off their shared pony and helped Karra off the way he usually did; swinging her to the ground gallantly with his arms about her waist.

She had to admit, she rather liked the way he did that.

Glancing around at the place where they would be camping that night, she spotted something through the trees that looked like water.

"Wait, are we camping by a stream tonight?" she asked.

"Yes," Fili replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Yesss!" she exclaimed. "Excuse me while I go take a wash in the stream. I'm serious; I haven't had a bath in _forever._" Seeing Fili looking at her oddly, she added, "You don't really care about that kind of stuff, do you." She shrugged. "Whatever. I, for one, am going to get cleaned up while I have the chance." She promptly headed off towards the stream. The last thing she heard was Fili calling, "Be careful!"

"What!" she called back cheerfully. "It's not like I'm going to get attacked by a wolf or something!"

Once at the stream, she quickly slipped off her clothes and slipped into the water, fervently hoping that no one in the company came to find her anytime soon. _That _would be…very awkward, to say the very least.

It felt _good _to wash off the dirt and grime she had accumulated over the last few weeks of traveling. Her hair could have used a bottle of shampoo and a good comb, but since she _obviously _had neither, she had to content herself with running her fingers through her hair, as she did, or tried to do, every night. She was seriously contemplating cutting it to a short boy crop. Although thick hair was great when it came to styles, it was horrible when it came to tangles.

She climbed out of the stream, feeling significantly refreshed, and slipped her clothes back on. These clothes couldn't really be called dress clothes anymore, she reflected. They could have passed for beggar's clothes! Besides the strip she had pulled off her shirt to tie her hair back, the bottom of her pants was ripped in several places, and the whole outfit was generally a complete mess. She realized with a slight grin that the large dwarf boots made her look horribly mismatched. Oh, well, no one here minded.

She was standing by the stream, running her fingers through her wet hair, when she heard someone coming. A moment later, Fili stepped out of the trees. For a moment, Karra was irritated. If he had come just a moment earlier….! He knew she was taking a wash, for goodness sakes!

"Oh…..hello….." she fumbled awkwardly.

"I was told to come find you," he said.

"Oh, I see," she retorted. "Even though everyone knew I was taking a wash in the stream."

"We were worried about you being alone and away from camp," he said mildly. "Contrary to what you said, it is quite possible that you could be attacked by a wolf."

Karra nodded. "Right. But you still knew I was taking a bath." She sighed and followed after him. Well, it _was _rather flattering that they were worried about her.

When they arrived back at camp, Karra saw that they were preparing dinner. Well, that was nice. Fili had brought her back just in time for dinner. But he had still known that she was taking a bath. Nothing quite excused almost walking in on her with, um, almost walking in on her in the middle of a bath.

She plopped down beside the fire and began running her fingers through her hair again.

"I seriously think I'm just going to cut my hair off soon," she grumbled. "If it gets any worse, I'll just have one big tangle."

"Oh, I think it looks quite nice the way it is," Fili replied, sitting down beside her.

Karra stared at him for a moment. "Is that a genuine complement or are you just trying to flatter me?" she asked suspiciously. "Or…wait a minute, are you complementing the way my hair looks when it's tangled?"

"All three," he said lightly.

Karra gave him an odd look. After a moment, she shook her head and said, "Whatever. I think dinner's ready."

Fili just chuckled. Karra glared at him. After a moment, she turned away and took a bowl of the soup that Bombur had made. How did Fili manage to do such a good job of getting her flustered?

Everyone finished their supper rather quickly. The dwarf sitting beside her, Gloin, she was pretty sure his name was, licked his fingers and let out a loud belch.

"Good soup, that is," he said gruffly.

Karra made a point of glaring at him. "Don't you know there's a _lady _in your midst?" she exclaimed. "You are so _uncouth_!"

She noticed Kili grinning at her from across the campfire. After a moment, he let out an even louder belch. Then he tossed his hair behind his shoulder lightly as if to say, _I can do what I want, and you can mind all you want, and I won't care. _Karra raised an eyebrow at him, and then purposefully set down her empty bowl and walked away from the group, to the edge of camp. Everyone had such _horrible _table manners! Well, except perhaps Thorin.

Bilbo walked over and sat down beside her. "Don't worry," he said gently. "You're not the only one who thinks they're uncouth. Did I ever tell you what they did to my house?..."

* * *

The firelight played on the faces of the company as they sat around the campfire one night about a week or so later. They had spent the whole evening telling stories, tales of the dwarves of old. All in all, it had actually been a rather _pleasant _evening. Karra sat with her arms around her knees, staring into the fire, listening to the friendly banter of the dwarves.

"Well, little brother," Fili was saying, "you must admit, the only reason you were chosen to come is because I was coming." He slapped Kili on the shoulder with a teasing grin. "I highly doubt you would have been chosen any other way."

"And just why did you come?" retorted Kili. "As if you're anything special."

"Children," laughed Balin. "You are both of the line of Durin. Never forget that."

"Oh, of course." Kili lounged back. "I wasn't planning on it."

Karra laughed. "Young, naïve dwarflings, I suppose," she said, sitting up straighter and assuming an air of mock superiority. "He called you _children._"

Kili shot her an amused look. "And just how old are _you_?" he mocked. "I suppose you're old. Although you certainly don't look it. For a dwarf woman, that is."

"Oh, gee thanks," Karra said dryly. "I guess that was supposed to be a complement. And in case I haven't told you, I'm not a dwarf. Apparently I've never said that before." As a matter of fact, the whole _I'm not a dwarf _thing had become a bit of a joke. She had been trying to convince them of this fact ever since she'd joined the company.

"Oh, of course you're not," Fili joined in. "So how do you explain your….dwarven height?"

"I'm just a very short human. Only explanation I've got. I guess you don't have short humans here, do you." She laughed. "And I'm eighteen, if you really want to know, Kili. I can't see you being much older than _that, _Mr. Old and Experienced."

Suddenly Karra realized that everyone was staring at her.

"Eighteen?" one of the dwarves finally said, seemed a little shocked.

"You're only an infant!" exclaimed another.

"Excuse me?" Karra exclaimed. "I know I'm not totally grown up yet, but I'm certainly not an _infant_!" She turned to Fili. "And how old would you be, Mr. Child?"

"Eighty-two."

Karra nearly fell over. "What—did—you—say?" she gasped.

"I said I'm eighty-two." Fili grinned, obviously enjoying her confusion.

"You're….you're _old_!" she exclaimed. "My grandpa _died _at eighty-two!"

"He died young, then," Balin replied.

"Young!" she exclaimed. "He was….old! What are you saying?"

"Eighty-two is quite young for a dwarf," Balin explained. "Eighteen is simply an infant."

"But….but..." Karra spluttered. "I'm an adult! At least, I am in my world….." her voice trailed off as she saw all the dwarves staring at her. "How long do dwarves live?" she faltered.

"Generally around two hundred years," Gloin chimed in.

"Two hundred….oh gosh…I didn't know…." Karra was at a complete loss for words.

"How is it that you knew so little of your own people?" said another.

"I told you I was raised in a far away land and have no knowledge of the dwarves. And how many times do I have to tell you, I'M NOT A DWARF. So you needn't say, _your own people, _Nori."

"Dori," the dwarf corrected her. Karra suddenly felt that her argument had become invalid by calling one of the dwarves by the wrong name. Turning to Fili and Kili and changing the subject, she said, "Well, if you guys are 'only children,' as Gloin said, why _did _you come? Yes, I was listening when you mentioned your son, Gloin. I know _he _didn't come because he was too young."

"Ah, yes, my lad Gimli," Gloin said. "He was not mature enough for a quest such as this."

"And I suppose Fili and Kili are?" joked Karra, giving them both a teasing look.

"It is as much our kingdom as our uncle's!" piped up Fili, apparently unable to keep quiet any longer. "As you said, Balin, we are of the line of Durin." He grinned. "I wasn't planning on forgetting it either."

"What do you mean by that?" Karra asked. "The line of Durin."

"The line of the Kings Under the Mountain, the Dwarf Kings of Erebor," Fili explained. "Our uncle is to be the next King, and…" his voice trailed off, as if he had just about said something he shouldn't.

"That would make Fili the heir to the throne," finished Balin. "And Kili Fili's heir."

"Wait a minute." Karra was finding it a bit hard to process all the new information she was getting tonight. She turned to Fili. "Doesn't that make you a _prince_?"

"I suppose," he said quietly.

_Well, _thought Karra, _he could certainly look the part. _The firelight played on his face, accentuating his features, and, Karra thought, making him look _very _handsome. Despite the teasing, despite the carefree personality, she could see him being a king, or a prince. She suddenly looked at him with new eyes. She had never really noticed how much he looked like his uncle, how kingly he could look.

The moment was broken when she noticed Fili looking back at her strangely. Oh, gosh, why was she blushing? Breaking her gaze from his, she stared into the fire. Her thoughts drowned out the conversation that was continuing around her. How much she had learned this night! Dwarves lived to be two hundred years old, and….Fili was a prince. A dwarven prince. She rather liked the sound of that. A handsome dwarven prince. She liked the sound of that even better. Silly her, he was seventy years older than her! She laughed silently at the thought. How stupid of her…

She was drawn back into the conversation around her by the sound of someone singing. Tearing her gaze away from the flames, she saw that Thorin had started a song, and the others were gradually joining in. It was a _grand _sounding song, and so very _dwarven _that it gave Karra chills. The whole group was singing now, and Karra began to hum along. An ancient song, full of power and might, it told of dwarves of old, of reclaiming kingdoms and defeating ancient foes. Karra suddenly felt a thrill. Perhaps there was something to this adventure thing after all! The song carried her away to another place, another time. Carried by the sparks from the fire, it floated up to the stars, filling the night with grandeur. Karra shivered, lifted away from the present time and place…..

And then it was over. Karra looked around at the faces of the others, still a bit awestruck. Almost before she could think what was happening, everyone was getting up and preparing for bed. Karra spread out her own bedroll, her mind swimming from the conversation and the song. She climbed in and stared up at the stars, her mind filled with songs and kingdoms and dwarven princes.

* * *

_Well, that was interesting. I'm not exactly sure how that happened….it just kind of flowed off my fingers! Hehe, that kind of makes me sound crazy, doesn't it? Like, I was just writing along, and, oh wait a minute, they're singing? Lol. I think my fellow writers will understand. _

_If you review, I'll give you…er…Bofur? Yeah, that's it. If you review, I'll give you Bofur. I promise, you'll love him. _


	4. Chapter 4-Temperamental Dwarf Women

_**Author's Note #1: **__This is another one of those chapters that was supposed to give the impression of a lot of traveling. So again, sorry if it seems split up, or the scenes seem short and totally unrelated. And on a totally different note, _wow, _Karra was moody in this chapter. I blame the fact that this whole quest thing is totally new to her. ;) _

_**Author's Note #2: **__I have way too much fun naming my chapters. _

* * *

**Chapter 4-Orcs, Wargs, and Temperamental Dwarf Women**

"We're getting into the wild lands now," Kili said one day as they were making camp. He gave Karra a pointed glance. "You know, these lands will be swarming with wolves and wargs."

Karra swallowed hard. "What's a warg?" She was pretty sure he was just teasing her, but what _was _a warg? The name sounded terrible.

"Horrible, ugly things with huge fangs," Fili said. "You wouldn't want to meet one alone."

Bofur now decided to join in the conversation. "Imagine the biggest wolf you've ever seen. Wargs are bigger." Karra gulped. She had been hearing wolf howls at night for some time now, and that was disconcerting enough. But wargs….? Apparently this world was a rather dangerous place. She stood up abruptly and walked over the edge of camp. That was enough teasing for one day.

"Be careful!" Fili called after her. "I told you, you wouldn't want to meet a warg alone!"

Karra just gave him a dark glare.

She flopped down beside a tree a decent distance away from camp. As she sat there, watching everyone set up, she began to reflect on the past month or so. It had been a strange one indeed. So much traveling, it seemed they must be on the other side of the world by now. The days of riding seemed endless. At least they weren't silent days. The dwarves talked while riding, and there always seemed to be at least one interesting conversation going. Karra found herself learning something about dwarf culture and history, and it _was _interesting. After hearing many tales of the kingdom of Erebor, she was actually rather interested to see it. Provided she ended up traveling with them that long, that is. And it seemed that she very well might, if they continued traveling through the wilderness like this for the whole trip. She had originally imagined that they would drop her off in some town somewhere, and she would find a home there as best she could. Not that this place would ever truly be home.

Home. What was happening at home? Did anyone miss her, or even realize that she was gone? What about her mom…she missed her mom. Even if she was a little distant. She still missed her. And home….her apartment…..she missed her apartment. Even if it was only a little apartment in a big college campus, she missed it. It was familiar and comfortable, unlike this…..this _adventure. _At home she didn't have to sleep on rocks at night. At home she didn't have to worry about _wargs, _or even wolves for that matter. She felt an unbidden tear sliding down her cheek. All of the memories of her mom and friends flooded back, and suddenly she had put her head in her hands and was sobbing.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. But she was interrupted by a voice saying, "You're crying."

Karra looked up to see that Bilbo was sitting beside her. Aw, heck, he would understand. She could confide in him.

"I miss my home," she said softly.

Bilbo looked up at her with compassion in his eyes. "I do too," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I'd never come," she whispered.

"Sometimes I wish that, too," he said.

"Sometimes?"

"But sometimes I'm glad I've come. Sometimes I'm glad I'm a part of this." He sat up straighter. "It's an adventure, after all. Adventures can be good _and_ bad."

"Mostly bad," Karra muttered.

"But there's some good that can come, too. As Gandalf told me once, home is behind….the _world_ is ahead."

Karra sighed. "I guess. But right now I don't care about the world….this world. I just want my home….my world."

Bilbo looked at her sympathetically. "I understand," he said simply. He looked up suddenly. "I believe dinner's ready," he said, then grinned. "That should cheer you up!"

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. Wiping her eyes and hoping no one would notice that she had been crying, she went over to the campfire.

Unfortunately, someone did notice.

"You've been crying," Fili observed.

"Why does everyone have to _notice_!" Karra wailed. "Please just cut me a little slack, okay? I'm tired of traveling. And you wouldn't understand. You don't even have a home to miss." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized that she had struck a wrong cord. "I'm sorry!" she cried, seeing the look on his face. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean it like that….please….." Suddenly she began to cry again. "I….I'm really sorry," she sobbed. "I can't do anything right."

"Please…." Fili made a vain attempt at comforting her. "I'm not offended. Please. Please just stop."

But Karra didn't _want _to stop. She just wanted to cry into someone's shoulder, and Fili was handy. With a sniff, she dropped her plate. Leaning against Fili, she put her head in her hands. "Oh, I'm so stupid," she cried. "I'm clumsy, and I'm dumb. Everything I say comes out wrong. How do you even tolerate me? I was never serious. I never meant anything seriously."

"I know….I know you didn't…." Fili was a bit flustered. "It's fine….it really is…."

"No, it's not!" Karra exclaimed. "I've been so thoughtless sometimes…..did I ever offend you?"

"You didn't…." he soothed. "Please…."

"Stop trying to comfort me!" she snapped. "I'm done with my dinner. Goodbye for the night." She stood up and walked haughtily to the edge of camp.

Kili turned to Fili with a grin. "I didn't know dwarf women were so temperamental," he said.

* * *

"Listen, I'm really sorry about last night," Karra said a little awkwardly as she bumped along on the pony behind Fili the next day. She hadn't really wanted to ride behind _him, _but he had _insisted_, as always. "I guess I was just tired, and….I don't know. I just wasn't in a good mood. I really am sorry."

Fili turned around and grinned at her. "Oh, no, it was perfectly fine. I'm sure you needed a….cry."

"Yeah, but I didn't have to do it on _you._" Karra flushed slightly thinking about it. "Admit it, you think I'm strange."

"Of course not."

"Well, at the very least, you think I'm…..different."

He nodded. "Well, yes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Is it?"

Karra sighed. "Sometimes it is."

This time he _smiled, _not grinned. "Not for you."

Karra flushed. "Are you trying to flatter me?"

He turned back around, with a *grin* this time. Karra sighed and let out a large yawn. "I'm getting kind of tired," she said. Oh well, she knew him well enough by now. "Do you mind if I….fall asleep?"

"Not at all."

Karra drifted off to sleep with her head on Fili's shoulder, just as she had done that first day.

* * *

"Oh, that's nice. We're camping by a cliff tonight." Karra wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect. "I mean, what if someone rolls over in their sleep?"

"I suggest you camp farther from the edge, then," said Fili, sliding off the pony and swinging her to the ground.

"Right. As if I didn't think of that. I just don't like heights." She was now spreading her bedroll as far away from the edge as she could get it without bumping into the cliff wall. She had never had a problem with sleepwalking, but a sudden fear struck her…..

"I wouldn't worry about it," Fili said. "With as far away from the edge as you're setting that up, you'd have to sleepwalk to get even remotely near the edge." Karra rolled her eyes. "What?" Fili asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I was just thinking that I was afraid I'd sleepwalk. I think you read my mind."

Fili chuckled, then glanced at where Karra had spread out her bedroll. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't realize how close I was setting mine up next to yours. Yeah, not a good idea. I mean, you're a guy, and I'm a girl…." She sheepishly picked up her bedroll and set about moving it rather far away.

He gave her an amiable smile. "Has anyone ever told you that you use the language in strange ways sometimes?" he asked.

Karra was a little shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I finally just figured out what you mean by the word 'guy.'"

"Oh! Yeah, I guess you don't use that word here," she said lamely.

"And 'yeah' is the same as 'yes,' am I right?"

"Yeah….I mean yes. I must say, you've done a very good job of figuring my 'language' out."

He shrugged. "After hearing you talk for a while, I began to put words in context. It wasn't that hard, really."

"Yeah, well, at least you don't talk without using any contractions," she replied. "I tried to read a fantasy story once where _everyone _did that, and it was _so _annoying."

This time Fili evidently didn't know what she was saying. "What?" he asked, a perplexed look on his face.

Karra flushed. "Nothing," she muttered. "You wouldn't understand. You're _in _a fantasy story."

Fili shook his head. "This is one of those times when I can't even figure out what you're saying by context."

Karra rolled her eyes. "Nevermind," she mumbled. "Umm….change of subject, please?"

Fili grinned at her. My, he did that a lot. "I think I'll go see what they're cooking for supper," he said lightly.

Karra grinned back. "Fine. Run away from my awkwardness," she said. "Whatever. I can set up my sleeping bag by myself."

"I'm assuming that 'sleeping bag' is the same thing as 'bedroll.'"

Karra just grinned again. "You should be a language professor," she said with a laugh.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Karra wasn't exactly sure what had woken her. She only remembered that she had been dreaming of her home, and her dad. She remembered him clearly, although it had been years since she'd seen him. He was good looking enough, thought rather short; her mother had always said that she'd gotten her height from him. She had seen him in her dream. He was sitting on the couch at her house….there was an odd sort of lonely look on his face. And then she had heard…..

Karra jerked upright. There it was again. That was what had wakened her. It was the most blood curdling scream she had ever heard. A horrible sound, not at all like a warg or wolf howl, not at all. This was something different, something more dangerous.

It seemed that Bilbo had heard it too. He came scuttling over from where he had apparently been awake, to where Fili and Kili, who were apparently awake, too, were sitting. Goodness, thought Karra, am I the only one who ever sleeps in this company?

"What was that?" Bilbo asked nervously, voicing the question that Karra had wanted to ask.

"Orcs," Kili responded.

"What are orcs?" Karra asked, at the same time Bilbo said, "Orcs?" They looked at each other and smiled slightly. Karra almost blurted out, 'jinx.'

"Throat cutters," Fili replied. "They'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are _crawling _with them."

"They strike in the wee hours of the night," Kili continued dramatically. "Quick and quiet, no screams, just lots of _blood._"

Karra and Bilbo looked at each other. "I don't like blood," Karra mumbled. Bilbo just looked terrified, saying nothing. All of a sudden, the two 'young' dwarves began to laugh. Karra began to splutter, then gave them a dark glare.

"You," she said caustically, irritated. Fili and Kili just laughed more. Just then, Thorin, who was apparently awake too, came walking over. He glared at the two boys. At that moment, that was what it looked like, two boys who had been caught at some mischief by their stern dad.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin said, and his voice was bitter. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" For a moment, Karra actually felt sorry for the two…..Thorin _did _sound rather intimidating, after all.

Kili tried to look innocent, and failed. "We didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you didn't," said Thorin harshly. "You know nothing of the world." Turning quickly, he walked to the edge of the cliff and stopped, just before falling off, Karra thought.

Balin, who was apparently awake _too,_ came walking over. Gosh, who _was _sleeping tonight?

"Don't mind him, laddie," he said amiably. Of course, anything he said with his thick Scottish accent sounded rather amiable. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria."

Karra sat up straighter. She sensed a story coming.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, led by the most vile of their race; Azog the Defiler," Balin continued. "The Gundagad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the king."

Karra shuddered slightly. The sudden image of an ugly creature holding a severed head appeared in her mind. She pushed the thought away as Balin continued his story.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we do not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us." Balin paused for effect. "That's when I say him. A young dwarf prince, facing down the pale orc." At the words, 'a young dwarf prince,' Karra glanced at Fili for a moment. She looked away quickly when he met her gaze.

"He stood alone against his terrible foe, his armor rent. Wielding nothing but an oaken branch for a shield," Balin was saying. "Azog, the defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated." Here Balin paused again, but this was not purely for effect. His eyes held a strange look in them as he continued sadly, "But there was no feast, no song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived." Karra could hear the lingering sadness in his voice. But as he spoke again, the sadness disappeared, replaced by a triumphant tone. "And I thought to myself, there is one who I could follow. There is one who I could call King." Upon finishing, he glanced up at Thorin, still standing at the edge of the cliff, staring off into the distance. He turned suddenly and walked back towards them, apparently having heard Balin's tale. Karra glanced around and saw that the entire company was awake now, and staring at Thorin in awe.

"But what of the pale orc?" asked Bilbo. "What happened to him?"

"He slunk back the hole whence he came," Thorin said bitterly. "That filth died of his wounds long ago."

The entire company simply stared at Thorin for a moment, as if digesting what they had just heard. And then, as if on cue, they all headed back to their sleeping places. Karra slowly crawled back into her own bedroll, her mind whirling with thoughts of the tale she had just heard. The last thing she thought before she drifted off the sleep was, _I am so going to dream about orcs tonight…_

* * *

_Whew, we finally get to something that's in the movie! Actually, I like making up my own stuff better. For the movie scenes, I have to go watch the scene again (not that I have any objection to that, lol!), figure out how to describe everything, and try to make it interesting, and not make it look like I had just copied the script or something. Therein lies the hard part. It's a challenge. I hope it was interesting. :P_

_So…um…who do I offer if you review? Hm….I don't quite want to give up Fili and Kili yet…..um….oh, never mind. If you review, you're awesome. Everyone wants to be awesome, right?! ;) _


	5. Chapter 5-A Rainy Day

_**Author's Note: **__Umm…wow, this chapter turned out short. I just couldn't seem to fit anything more into it! _

* * *

**Chapter 5-A Rainy Day with a Strange Ending**

It was raining. And this wasn't just your ordinary summer sprinkle. This was the kind of rain that soaked your clothes, and when it had finished with your clothes, went on to chill you to the bone. Well, Karra's clothes had needed a good washing anyway, but that still didn't make up for almost catching a cold. Or maybe _actually _catching a cold. She let out a loud sneeze. A moment later, she realized that she had sneezed directly into Fili's hair. Would she ever stop embarrassing herself in front of him? Or, well, in this case, behind him.

"Sorry," she muttered, swiping her hand through his hair in an attempt to wipe her sneeze out.

He turned around and said, "What?"

"I…." she flushed. "I sneezed in your hair." Suddenly realizing how odd that sounded, she began to giggle.

"I'm sure my hair has had worse things in it than sneezes," he said with a laugh, turning back around to guide the pony around a tree stump. Karra stopped giggling rather suddenly as a large plop of water from a tree above her landed directly on her head.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" complained Dori. Or at least, Karra was _fairly _sure it was Dori. She had pretty much gotten everyone's names down by this time, but they were still weird. Seriously, Dori was a _girl's _name.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done," Gandalf said matter-of-factly.

"Well, that was certainly stating the obvious!" exclaimed Karra.

"So was that," said Fili from in front of her on the pony. Gandalf didn't seem to hear their exchange.

"If you wish to change to weather of the world," he continued, "You will have to find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any?" Bilbo asked.

Gandalf seemed a bit perplexed. "What?"

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us," Gandalf replied. "The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. There are the two blue wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"Wow, a wizard forgets things?" Karra asked. Fili chuckled. Apparently they were riding too far back for Gandalf to hear what they were saying; Karra was rather glad. She wasn't sure she wanted for Gandalf to hear her teasing him.

"And who is the fifth?" Bilbo was saying.

"Well, that would Radagast the Brown," Gandalf said.

"Is he a great wizard," began Bilbo, "or is he….more like you?"

Karra stifled a snort of laughter. She had just thought that she didn't want to Gandalf to hear her teasing him, and then Bilbo went and said something like that! She could imagine the look on the wizard's face without even seeing it.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way." Gandalf sounded slightly defensive. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others…."

The rest of the afternoon consisted of some talk about the wizards, and after that, only a couple of spattered conversations. The rain seemed to dampen everyone's mood. Thankfully, it let up slightly before they made camp. But only slightly.

"Are we going to have to sleep in the rain all night," Karra grumbled as she slid off the pony. She had finally learned to get off herself, only this time, the ground was somewhat slippery, and she would have done well to let Fili help her. She slipped on the wet leaves, landing hard on her bottom. "Ouch," she complained. "I'm clumsy."

"Are you alright?" Fili asked, helping her up.

"Of course. Only a little muddy. As if these clothes weren't bad enough already."

Fili laughed a little. "You're not entirely accustomed to traveling."

"Thanks for stating the obvious. I'm surprised you haven't noticed that before." She was feeling a bit snappish, probably because of the rain.

"You can be fairly good at that, too." He smirked at her.

"Oh, stop it, you." She shook her head. "Excuse me; I'm going to go try to find a dry spot." As she turned quickly, the key that hung around her neck fell out from behind her shirt. She quickly tucked it back in, but not quickly enough to keep Fili from noticing.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said quickly. "Just a little trinket that was my dad's. You haven't noticed it before?"

Fili unexpectedly put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around. "May I see it?" he asked.

Karra shrugged. "I guess," she said, but hesitated for a moment.

"If it's nothing, why are you so hesitant?" he asked pointedly.

"Fine," she said, pulling the key out. "Here. You can see it." She carefully unlatched the chain it hung on and handed the key to him. "It's nothing, really. It's just a trinket of my dad's."

Fili was staring at the key. After a moment, he grasped it in his hand and walked away, obviously preoccupied.

"Hey!" Karra called after him. "My key, please…..please…..oh, never mind." _I kind of hope he gives it back! _she thought. _What's the big deal about a key, anyway? _

* * *

Karra awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of soft voices. She lay there for a minute trying not to eavesdrop until she heard her mane being spoken. She recognized the voice as Fili's.

At this, she sat up and leaned forward, trying to hear what was being said. Eavesdropping was forgivable if they were talking about her, she reasoned. When she failed to pick up what they were saying, she quietly scooted a little closer.

"…one of the keys," Kili was saying. "What do you think?"

"I think it's obvious," Fili said. "It is one of the keys. But how would a woman from a faraway land have managed to get a hold of _one of the keys_? She said it was her father's."

"Perhaps her father knew of this land?" suggested Kili. "Should we tell uncle?"

"I don't think so; not just yet," Fili replied. "He had enough on his mind already."

"It wouldn't worry him. I think he'd want to know."

Karra wanted more than anything to just go over there and ask what they were talking about, but she wasn't sure if she should let them know that she had been listening in on their secret midnight conversation. At that moment, Fili looked up, and Karra was sure that their eyes met. She quickly rolled back over and closed her eyes. Lying there trying to act like she was asleep, she began to try to puzzle out what the conversation had been about. One of the keys? What did he mean by that? And how _would _she have gotten a hold of one of these keys, whatever they were?

Staring up at the stars, she fell to dreaming about her father.

* * *

_Well, I've got your curiosity peaked now, haven't I? Mauahahahaha. I'm going to make you wait for an explanation. I am the author. I have power. _

_Just kidding. Sort of. _

_If you review I'll give you…let's see…somebody mentioned Thranduil. Okay, if you review I'll give you Thranduil. :D_


	6. Chapter 6-Stating the Obvious

_**Author's Note: **__I'm posting this a day early (I post on Mondays and Thursdays, in case you haven't noticed, and I'm trying to keep up the pattern as long as I can) because I'm not sure if I'll have access to a computer tomorrow, and I figure, better a day early than a day late. So my lack of computer tomorrow is to your advantage! :D _

_**Author's Note #2: **__I had way too much fun with the dialogue in this chapter. _

* * *

**Chapter 6-Stating the Obvious**

"You seem sleepy," Fili observed.

"Yeah, *Yawn* I didn't sleep well last night." Karra sighed. "It was wet." Well, that wasn't the whole explanation. But she didn't really want to tell him that she had been awake for a while puzzling over something she had heard him and Kili talking about in the middle of the night.

Fili turned around rather quickly, as if he had just thought of something. "Here's you key," he said, handing it to her. "I'm sorry I stole it last night."

"What….what was so important about it?" Karra asked, hoping for an explanation. Unfortunately, she didn't get one. Fili just turned back around and said casually,

"I thought it looked like something I'd seen before."

"And….?"

He didn't answer. It was obvious he was preoccupied, so she didn't push the matter. She _did _hope she got some kind of explanation _sometime_, though.

* * *

"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin ordered. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them. Oin, Gloin, get a fire going."

"Finally!" Karra exclaimed, staring at the abandoned farmhouse that they would be camping beside. "Some remnant of civilization! I was beginning to wonder if there even _was _any in this world."

"Any what?" Fili asked.

"Civilization!" she cried.

"I'm going to choose not to take that as an insult," Kili said saucily.

Karra allowed Fili to help her off the pony. She shot Kili a glare before saying, to Fili of course, "I'll watch the ponies with you."

"Because I'm sure it sounds interesting," he replied dryly.

Karra shrugged. "It sounds more interesting than sitting next to that creepy old house all evening."

"Creepy?"

Karra sighed. "You're never going to really learn my language, are you? Creepy….spooky….you know, eerie."

Fili and Kili were now at the task of gathering the ponies. "I wouldn't necessarily consider that house _eerie,_" Fili said over his shoulder. "Old and dilapidated, perhaps, but not eerie."

"I can help!" Karra abruptly changed the subject. This conversation was going nowhere good.

"I'm sure you can." Kili lead a pony past her. "You don't know the difference between a pony and a horse. I'm sure you can."

Karra rolled her eyes. "That was the first day I was with you! You remember that?"

"Oh, of course we do." Fili handed her the reins of his pony. "Here, lead Myrtle over there. And we remember all your other shows of ignorance since then, too. There, that should be all of them. Tie her to that tree, Karra," he added, for Karra had been standing, holding the reigns and looking slightly confused.

"Thanks," Karra muttered, attempting to tie a good, solid knot, and somewhat failing. Oh, well, that should be good enough. _And I'm sure that was kind of a show of ignorance, too, _she added in her head. She plopped down against a log, and Fili and Kili sat down beside her, one on either side.

"Well," Karra said, "What are we supposed to do now?"

Fili shrugged. "Watch them."

"Thanks, Mr. Obvious!" Karra grinned. "Must be a dwarf thing."

"If it is, then you're a dwarf," he shot back.

Karra tried to look innocent. "Are you saying I state the obvious?" she asked.

"Have I not said that before?"

"Oh, you have?" She knew she was being annoying, and she was thoroughly enjoying it. For once _she _could get on _their _nerves.

"Many times," Kili broke in. "I've heard him."

"Because you listen in on all of our conversations," Karra retorted.

"Unashamedly," he replied, a perfectly serious look on his face.

Karra shook her head. "You're hopeless."

"Hopeless? And what do you mean by that?" Fili asked.

"I'm quite sure you know what that word means. It's not one of those strange words I've added to the language."

"Oh, of course not." Fili smirked. "It means to be without hope. Are you saying that we are without hope?"

"Well, that wasn't what I was saying…..oh, please. You'll just never really understand my 'language.'"

"I don't think I will," said Kili. "You're hopeless."

"I'm assuming that was an example of picking up words by context. And that was the wrong context."

And so it went. Such banter continued for most of the rest of the evening, with occasional breaks for serious conversation, but that was rare. Sometimes it was hard to have a serious conversation with these two. Finally, Karra began to get rather hungry and decided to go back and see whether the others were eating dinner yet.

"Well, bye," she said cheerily, standing up. "I'll leave you two to your boring job while I go have fun eating dinner! Hope someone brings you some!"

"Thanks," Kili said dryly. "I would ask that you bring some, but I'm much too afraid you'd refuse."

Karra shook her head. "Sorry. See you tomorrow!" With that last parting shot, she tripped off in the direction of camp.

It seemed that they had already begun dinner. Karra slid into the circle and got herself a bowl of soup.

"I see you're back," observed Bofur.

"Stating the obvious." Karra rolled her eyes. "And if you want to know, I thought they could do the job well enough without me. And I was getting kind of hungry. So I came back." After a moment, she began to laugh. "I guess that was obvious." Several of the other dwarves chuckled. Karra fell to eating with a relish. Lively conversation with two young dwarves for a couple of hours tended to make one hungry.

For a while, no one talked. Everyone seemed too focused on eating.

Presently Bilbo spoke up. "He's been a long time," he stated.

"Who?" Bofur asked.

"Gandalf," Bilbo answered. Karra glanced around the circle.

"Yeah, where is Gandalf?" she asked.

"He's a wizard! He does what he chooses," Bofur said rather unhelpfully. He handed two bowls of soup to Bilbo. "Here, do us a favor, take this to the lads."

_Well, _Karra thought with a secret grin, _someone is bringing them dinner. _

"Will someone tell me where Gandalf went?" Karra asked.

"He left," explained Oin

"Obvious."

"That's all we know," explained Ori. "He said…..well, he wanted to be by himself. I've no notion why."

Glancing Thorin's direction, Karra thought she saw him giving the young dwarf a harsh glare. _Well, he didn't do anything! _she thought.

"Maybe he just wanted to be by himself," she said with a little grin.

Bofur, seeming to pick up on her cue, replied, "That's obvious."

Karra opened her eyes wide. "Oh, was it?" she said innocently.

This time the whole group laughed.

Karra opened her eyes wider. "Oh, was that funny?"

She could only keep it up for a moment, then broke down into laughter. Pretty soon the whole group was laughing.

"I think he left because he wanted to be by himself," chuckled Bofur.

"It's the only logical explanation," laughed Balin.

Nori decided to join in. "I think he left because he didn't think any of us were sensible in any way."

"What?" Karra asked.

"Well," began Ori, "He referred to _himself _as the only one who had any-"

He was interrupted. Fili and Kili suddenly came rushing into the circle around the fire.

"Trolls!" gasped Kili.

"They've stolen the ponies and they have our burglar," Fili said.

"What's a troll?" Karra tried to ask. But almost before she knew what was happening, she heard an order from Thorin, and the entire group was rushing towards the unknown danger.

* * *

_Phew, some action! If you review, I'll give you…..oh, I really need to stop this before I start getting on your nerves. But, I just want to say, every time I get a review (or a fave or a follow, for that matter) it encourages me to keep writing. And the more I keep writing, the longer it will be before I catch up with myself and stop posting so regularly. So yeah, you get the idea. :)_


	7. Chapter 7-Big Ugly Creatures

_**Author's Note: **__Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! :) _

* * *

**Chapter 7-Big Ugly Creatures**

"Defend yourself." Karra heard Fili's voice in her ear as he shoved something into her hand. She clenched her hand around the hilt of the dagger.

"But I don't know how too-" she began, but was interrupted by Fili clapping a hand over her mouth and hissing in her ear, "Get down!"

They crouched down in the bushes. Karra stared at the dagger. What the heck was she supposed to do with the thing? "Fili…" she began, but was interrupted by what sounded like a loud sneeze. She looked up to see three of the ugliest things she had ever seen in her life. And they had Bilbo.

"Are those trolls?" she exclaimed. "Wow….I didn't know anything could be so ugly!"

"Be quiet!" Fili hissed. "We don't want them to hear us!"

"Oh. Right," she whispered. "Umm….sorry." They were now all crouched in the bushes, apparently waiting for the right moment. _Well, come on! _Karra wanted to say. _Do something! They're going to hurt Bilbo! _

"Hold 'is toes over the fire," one of the ugly thing growled. "Make him squeal."

Apparently that was the right moment, or Kili seemed to think so. Suddenly he rushed out of the bushes and stabbed the troll in the leg. The thing let out a howl and fell over. "Drop him," Kili said savagely. The troll seemed confused and blubbered something about 'you what?'

"I said, drop him," Kili said again, this time even more savagely. The troll hurled Bilbo roughly in Kili's direction, and suddenly, before Karra knew what was happening, everyone was rushing out of the bushes, weapons at the ready. She awkwardly and nervously raised her dagger as she was swept along in the rush of dwarves.

Suddenly they were attacking the huge things. She desperately hacked at anything that came near her, hoping it wasn't a dwarf. One moment she was slashing at a troll's leg, and the next she had to whirl around and slash at another to keep from getting stepped on. She really had no idea what she was doing with the dagger Fili had given her, and felt terribly clumsy, but she didn't really have time to think. She was just trying to survive, not get stepped on, and not kill someone else. She slashed one way and then another. The trolls were impossible to cut with their think skin, but apparently they were easily hurt. Just a poke, though it took a hard one, and they would fall over howling. She began roughly stabbing one troll in the foot repeatedly.

_Stab. Stab. Stab. _The thing howled harder each time. She drew back her dagger for another stab, cursing her thick hair as it flew in her face. At least she could have had the sense to pull it back! Letting her guard down for one moment, she pushed it behind her shoulder.

Only one moment, but it was a fatal mistake. As she desperately brushed her hair out of her face, she didn't notice a troll behind her. She suddenly let out a shriek as it grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up. It felt like her arm was going to come off.

"Well, what 'ave we 'ere?" said the ugly thing, dangling her in front of its face. "This one doesn't look the others, does it Bert?"

"It doesn't," the other thing agreed. "And what would you be?" it asked her.

"I'm….I'm a dwarf!" she faltered. What a silly thing to say! She wasn't a dwarf.

"You don't look like a dwarf," said the troll with its hideous cockney accent. "You're lyin', that's what you're doin'! It's a liar!" it cried to the others.

"No…." taunted the other troll. "It's not a liar. You know what I think? I think it's a….lady."

"A lady!" exclaimed the one holding her. It dropped her and grabbed her, hard, around the waist with its other hand. "Well, ain't that a new one! I ain't never seen a lady dwarf before!"

"What do'ye' think?" asked the other one, Bert, staring at her. "Do'ye' think ladies are tasty?"

"I reckon so," said the one holding her. "Think we should eat her first?"

Karra gulped. _Eat _her?

"Nah, save 'er for last." The one holding her squeezed her hard. "Dessert, you know. She seems nice an' soft."

"Oh….thanks for the complement!" Karra cried. It seemed she still had enough in her to be sarcastic.

"Looks like we got ourselves a _sassy…._" the troll began, only to be apparently interrupted by something, for he let out a great howl and fell backward, dropping Karra roughly to the ground. She looked up to see Fili standing with his dagger at the ready. It suddenly dawned on her that he had just saved her by stabbing the troll in the foot.

"Thanks!" she gasped.

"Anytime," he said, helping her to her feet. Suddenly, with the battle raging all around her, she realized that he had put his arm around her waist as he helped her up.

"Thanks," she muttered again. "…..you saved me….."

"Look out!" Fili shouted, suddenly shoving her out of the way. A split second later, a troll foot slammed down right where she had been standing.

Karra gasped and jabbed the troll in the leg, and was rewarded by a howl. She stabbed it in the foot again, and the thing howled again. Her satisfaction at actually being somewhat successful was ruined by a troll trying to pick her up again. She randomly shoved her sword upwards, and apparently hit something, for he began to jump around holding his hand in pain. Karra had to jump out of the way to keep from getting smashed. She tripped over a rock and fell flat on her back with a cry of pain. As she began to pick herself up, she suddenly realized that everything was quiet.

She slowly stood up and looked around. The dwarves were all looking _up, _and all at the same place. She followed their gaze and caught her breath. The trolls were holding Bilbo by his arms and legs, apparently attempting to stretch him out. "Bilbo!" someone cried.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off," said one of the trolls, obviously pleased with its cleverness with words.

There was a moment of tense silence. Karra looked back and forth between the trolls, Bilbo, and the dwarves. Kili stared defiantly at the trolls, as if willing them to try to take his weapon. Thorin held his sword tightly, and he almost seemed hesitant. Karra gripped the hilt of her dagger. Were they seriously considering letting Bilbo be _killed_?

Finally, Thorin, staring hard at Bilbo, shoved his sword into the ground. The others followed suit, dropping their weapons into a pile. Karra dropped her dagger with a clang onto the top of the pile. The last thing she remembered before being grabbed by a troll was Fili's gentle touch and look that said, _it'll be okay. It really will. _

* * *

Being tied up in a bag wasn't too comfortable. It was especially uncomfortable after being tossed around and being roughly patted over by three large, clumsy trolls. And that, of course, was exactly what had happened to Karra. The trolls had tossed her around, squeezed her, pulled her hair, and basically contrived to make every muscle in her body as sore as possible before shoving her in a bag and tying it rather too tightly around her neck. The entire situation was made more uncomfortable by the fact that the three troll were now calmly, or not so calmly, discussing how to eat them. _And _the fact that she had to watch five dwarves roast slowly over the fire. _That _wasn't pleasant, to say the least.

"Don't bother cooking them," one of the horrible creatures was saying. "Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly."

_Ew…..that sounds gross…. _Karra thought with a grimace.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." Karra swallowed a slight nervous giggle at hearing the dumb thing say a fancy word like 'sautéed.'

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice," said another dumbly. Karra giggled nervously again, thinking that anything but dwarves would sound quite nice sautéed with a sprinkle of sage. She pushed the thought down, realizing how odd it was.

"Never mind the seasoning," growled another. "We ain't got all night. Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on! I don't fancy bein' turned to stone."

_Hmm….turned to stone? _Karra thought suddenly. _I wonder…._

Apparently Bilbo had the same idea, or nearly the same idea. "Wait!" he called, catching the trolls' attention. "You're making a terrible mistake!"

"You can't reason with them, they're halfwits!" Dori called out. Karra, who had caught onto Bilbo's scheme almost immediately, could have kicked him.

"Halfwits? What does that make us?" Bofur exclaimed. _Hmmm? _Karra thought. _What….what kind of reasoning is that?_

Bilbo managed to hop to his feet, thought still tied in the sack. "I meant…." he fumbled, "with the, um, with, uh, with the seasoning!" he finally exclaimed.

"What about the seasoning?" growled one of the monsters.

"Have you smelt them? You're going to need something a lot stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!"

"Excuse me?" Karra exclaimed. "That wasn't…polite! Thanks for the complement!" A moment later, she realized that she probably would have fumbled around as much as he was, and shut her mouth quickly.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" a troll asked sarcastically.

"Shuddup and let the….flugaburgahobbit talk," said the other one, stumbling over the large word.

"The….uh….secret to cooking dwarf is, um…." Bilbo began, still obviously trying to think of something good to say. For a moment, he fumbled, the trolls staring at him expectantly.

"Yes? Come on," said the troll impatiently.

"Uh…."

"Tell us the secret," another growled.

"Y…Yes…I'm telling you. The…the secret is to…skin them first!" Bilbo exclaimed with a triumphant grin.

"You…you little….hobbit, you!" Karra exclaimed with a gasp. Now he had done it! What a dumb mistake! In the light of being _skinned, _she didn't really care if she would have fumbled around as much as he did. _This _was a fumble he couldn't reverse! "Dummy!"

It was very apparent the other dwarves felt the same way. Everyone was shouting and cursing at Bilbo.

"Tom, get me the fileting knife," growled a troll over the angry protesting.

"I say we start with _this one,_" said another, reaching for Karra. "I'll bet you ladies are _tasty_!"

"I told you to save her for last!" exclaimed another. "Mebby she's sweet!"

Karra suddenly heard a voice hissing in her ear, "Move back." She felt herself being pushed back and under someone. _Ouch. _She realized after a moment that Fili had taken advantage of the troll's distraction for a moment and contrived to hide her under a couple of other dwarves and himself. _Thanks…_she wanted to whisper in his ear, but she didn't really feel like she should draw attention to herself. Was this, what, the _third _time he had saved her? _Must remember to thank him for this…._

"What a load o' rubbish!" exclaimed one of the trolls. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on! I say, scruff 'em, boots and all!" Karra assumed he realized she wasn't there, for she heard him cry, "Well, where'd she go?"

"I told ya' to save 'er for last!" shouted another, and Karra heard, from under the pile of dwarves, a bang, as if the troll had slammed the other one on the head. "And besides, I want 'er!"

"Nothing wrong with a bit o' raw dwarf," said the third, obviously oblivious to the other two trolls' argument. "Nice an' crunchy!" Karra felt the pile shift, and she could tell the troll had picked up a dwarf. "I'll start with this one," the troll said. "You can 'ave the lady if ya want."

"Not that one!" Bilbo suddenly piped up. "He's infected!"

"What?" the troll blubbered.

"He's got worms…in his tubes!" Bilbo exclaimed. It was obvious the troll dropped the dwarf on top of the pile, for Karra suddenly felt a huge weight on top of her. She couldn't help letting out a little squeal. That _had _to have been Bombur. If she didn't get eaten by a troll first, she'd suffocate!

"In fact, they all have," Karra heard Bilbo saying, though it was a bit muffled through the two dwarves that were piled on top of her. "They're all infested with…parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

After a brief moment of, _what the heck is he trying to do, insult us? _it suddenly dawned on Karra that Bilbo had really been quite clever. But it didn't dawn on the other dwarves. Several of them let out exclamations of irritation.

"Parasites, did he say parasites?"

"We don't have parasites!"

"We don't have parasites, you have parasites!"

Karra let out a squeal of anger. Was everyone _dumb_? Without really thinking, she shoved her elbow, _hard, _into the dwarf beside her, as best she could, being tied up in a bag with two dwarves on top of her.

"What?" Oin exclaimed, and then suddenly seemed to realize, at the same time as everyone else. Karra started it, and soon everyone was exclaiming about how huge their worms were.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!"

"I've got absolutely _huge _ones. In fact, the doctor said it was hopeless, and I'd just have to live with them for the rest of my life. So yeah, mine are _gross_."

"Mine are the biggest! I've got huge ones!"

"I'm beginning to think of them as my friends, they're so big!"

"We're riddled!"

"Yes, we're riddled, badly!"

"I talk to them sometimes."

"What would you 'ave us do, then, let 'em all go?" asked a troll suddenly.

"Well…." Karra heard the flustered tone in Bilbo's voice.

"You think I don't know what you're up to?" it growled. _Yes, as a matter of fact, we did think that, you dummy, _thought Karra. "The little ferret is taking up for fools!" The troll was angry.

"The dawn will take you all!" Karra heard a voice shout.

"What was that?" she tried to ask, but was rather smothered by the dwarves on top of her. "What….?" Wait a minute….Gandalf? What was going on?

"Can we eat 'im too?" asked a troll dumbly. Suddenly there was a great cracking sound and sounds of howling from the trolls. Karra desperately tried to worm her way to the top to see what was happening, but then, suddenly, everything was quiet.

"Can someone please get me out from under here?" Karra squeaked.

* * *

_Microsoft Word kept correcting the trolls' grammar, lol. One does not simply try to make trolls have good grammar. :D_

_And….yeah, this was a very challenging chapter to write. Remember what I was saying about writing scenes from the movie? Well, double that, no, triple that, for action sequences from the movie. I have to watch the scene again (again, not that I have any abjection to that, lol!), figure out where Karra would be in them, basically choreograph what she's doing, and then on top of that, it has to be interesting. Well, I hope it was interesting. _


	8. Chapter 8-More Orcs, More Wargs

_**Author's Note: **__Ummm….yeah. I have nothing to say about this chapter. But since I'm a bit OCD, I have to put an author's note at the beginning….since I did on all the others….and I must keep up the pattern…anyway. There. I said something. :D_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Whew….thanks." Karra stood up and shook herself off. "They really tied that bag way too tight."

"Are you alright?" asked Fili.

"Well, besides being a little sore, yeah, I'm fine." Karra glanced around at the still, silent trolls. "What just happened, anyway?"

"Gandalf just turned the trolls to stone. As you can probably see." Karra was almost relieved to see his grin. Things were back to normal. Normal! Whatever normal _was _in this world.

"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't see it," she shot back. "Because I had two dwarves on top of me. It was kind of smothering."

Fili raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that I was trying to keep you from being eaten by the trolls."

Karra flushed. "Oh, I didn't mean like that. Really, thanks for that. But then they had to drop Bombur on top of me. That kind of hurt, you know."

"It hurt you? _I _was on top!"

"Oh….yeah, sorry." Karra shook her head. "Really, thanks. I think he would have just dropped me in his mouth without even thinking." She stopped short as the realization of what she was saying hit her. "Ummm…." she said awkwardly. "You….yeah….you saved me."

"What else could I do? I couldn't let you get eaten."

Karra sighed. A sudden weariness flooded over her. "I've never been in….anything like that before. And I had no idea what to do with the dagger thing you gave me."

Fili looked at her in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No. I was just kind of wildly swinging it wherever I could. You're lucky I didn't accidentally cut someone's head off."

Fili shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder who you are," he said thoughtfully. "You journeyed from a far-away land without ever using a weapon. How is that possible?"

"I….I'm not sure. I guess….I guess I'm just lucky?"

But Karra was spared from having to explain more when Gloin walked over and tapped Fili on the shoulder. "There's a cave nearby," he said. "And where a troll cave is, there's bound to be treasure."

"A troll cave?" Karra exclaimed, ignoring the treasure part. "Well that sounds nice. Nice and dirty and nasty." All the same, she followed Fili and Gloin as they followed after the others in the search for the inevitable cave.

The large yawning opening was not easy to miss. As they entered it, Karra found that it smelled worse than anything they had encountered yet. In fact, it smelled worse than the trolls' stew, and _that _hadn't smelled good _at all, _to say the least. Karra nearly gagged, as did some of the others.

"Ew…it smells _gross _in here," she muttered.

"What's that _stench_?" exclaimed Nori.

"It's a troll hoard," Gandalf explained.

"Well, I guessed that!" Karra exclaimed. "Boy, everyone here always states the obvious." Gandalf shot a look in her direction and continued,

"Be careful what you touch."

"What, do trolls poison things or something?" Karra asked. She didn't receive an answer. She was soon _(somewhat)_ distracted from the smell by the piles of interesting objects that the trolls had apparently stolen. Besides piles of gold, there were other things. She noticed a small necklace that looked somewhat familiar and leaned down to pick it up. Examining it carefully, she realized that it was almost exactly like a necklace her mom used to have. Hmm, strange. Must be some sort of coincidence. Dusting it off, she fastened it around her neck, slipping it under her shirt with the key, and made a mental note to ask someone about it. As she headed back towards the opening, ready to get out of the bad-smelling place, she tripped over something and was sent nearly sprawling to the ground.

Picking herself up, she looked to see what had tripped her. Digging around in the pile of gold coins with her foot, she noticed what looked to be a sword sheath. A little excitedly, though she wasn't sure why, she dropped to her knees again and began to dig around in the gold, attempting to unearth the short sword. She pulled it out and stared at it. It was pretty much encased in spider webs and dirt, and kind of gross looking until she pulled it out of the sheath.

She gasped slightly and ran her fingers along the flat of the blade. The cool metal gleamed with its own light, it seemed. There was a design of leaves curling up the blade, and on the sheath, too, she realized as she wiped it off.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

The moment was interrupted by Thorin's voice calling, "Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go!" Karra reluctantly slipped the sword back into its sheath, and, still carrying it, followed the others out of the cave. The fresh air reminded her once again of how stinky it had been in there.

Karra immediately searched out Fili. Pulling the sword out of its sheath, she showed it to him. "Look what I found," she said excitedly.

Fili stared at it. "That is a superior blade," he said thoughtfully. "You found it in the troll hoard?"

Karra nodded. "Yes. It….it might be a good idea for me to know how to use it."

Fili's reply was cut short by a shout of "Something's coming!"

"Stay together!" called Gandalf. "Hurry now! Arm yourselves!"

"Exactly what I was saying," hissed Karra to Fili, shoving the sword back into the sheath as she followed the group of dwarves who were now running. There was a crashing in the underbrush as whoever, or whatever, it was, approached.

"Well, they're certainly not trying to be sneaky," Karra muttered. Realizing she should probably have her sword at the ready, she pulled it out and held it clumsily in front of her.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" a voice shouted, and presently, the shouter came into view. A ragged old man on a sleigh pulled by….Karra peeked around several of the dwarves and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to see better. Were those _rabbits_? If they were, they were certainly the largest ones she had ever seen.

"Who. The heck. Is that," Karra said. "Who….who has a sleigh pulled by….rabbits?"

Fili put a finger to his lips. "I wouldn't draw attention to us."

"Radagast!" Gandalf cried as the slight pulled to a stop. "Radagast the Brown! What on earth are you doing here?"

"He seems rather exited," Karra whispered.

"Stop stating the obvious." This time Fili smiled. Karra giggled.

"Whatever. What are they talking about?"

"Oh, just give me a minute," Radagast the bunny man was saying. "Oh….I had a thought…and then I lost it. It was right there. On the tip of my tongue!" Karra stifled another giggle as he stuck out his tongue and stared at it with crossed eyes. Whoever this was, he was certainly very odd!

"Oh, it's not a thought at all!" he exclaimed. "It's just a silly old…stick insect!" Gandalf reached out and pulled a stick bug off his tongue. Karra made a face at Fili.

"Well, that was gross."

After that, Gandalf and the odd bunny person headed off somewhere to talk about something. What they were talking about, Karra never found out, for a couple of moments later, she heard a howl.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked nervously. "Are…are there wolves out there?"

Bofur stepped forward and stared in the direction of the howl. "Wolves?" he said. "No, that is not a wolf." There was no teasing or trying to scare here. He was worried, plain and simple.

Suddenly there was a crash in the underbrush. All head swiveled towards the giant warg that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. With a snarl, the horrible thing leaped down on the company. Karra tried to jump out of its way. She was too late. Fangs snarled in her face as the warg knocked her down, blowing its odious breath down her neck. She nearly gagged, at the same time trying to crawl out of the way. Suddenly it rolled onto its side; Karra looked up to see Thorin yanking his sword out of the warg's side. Gasping, Karra tried to get back to her feet. There was another snarl and another warg fell down on top of the company, pierced by Kili's arrow. Thorin quickly finished it off.

"Warg scouts!" he exclaimed, pulling his now-bloodied sword out of the warg's heart. "Which means an orc-pack is not far behind!"

"Orc-pack," Bilbo said nervously.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" cried Gandalf, stepping forward and giving Thorin a probing look.

"No one," Thorin replied, though with what Karra thought was a glance in her direction. She flushed, realizing that _she _wasn't _kin. _

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf practically shouted.

"No one, I swear!" Thorin cried. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"We're being hunted," Gandalf explained.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin said urgently. Karra was a bit too nervous to make a 'stating the obvious' comment.

"We can't!" exclaimed Ori, appearing at the top of the crag. "We have no ponies! They bolted!"

"I'll draw them off!" Radagast offered determinedly. Why, Karra had nearly forgotten about Radagast!

"These are Gundabad wargs!" cried Gandalf; and he actually seemed concerned for Radagast's safety. "They will outrun you."

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," replied Radagast even more determinedly. "I'd like to see them try."

And with that, he was off. "Wow, those bunnies sure can run!" exclaimed Karra as the sledge flew off through the trees. Gandalf summoned the company with a 'come on!' and took off running, out of the forest. Once out in the field, they stopped rather suddenly and crouched behind a rock. Karra felt an involuntary shudder run thought her as she watched the wargs run by, chasing after the wizard, who seemed to be having way too much fun. Those warg things were _ugly_!

"Stay together," Gandalf ordered, leading them out from behind the rock. They ran around and over more rocks until Karra was sure that she was going to slip on one and break her ankle. Gandalf gathered them together again behind a rock, motioning them to keep going. "Come on, quick!" They ran and ran, sneaking behind large rocks and around large rocks.

They finally stopped for a moment, huddling behind a rock again. Karra leaned back against the large stone, catching her breath. _Why_ did she have to be so _unfit_? She really should exercise more…she was going to be a complete tired sweaty mess by the end of this. Whatever the end of this turned out to be. She swiped her hand across her forehead and pushed her thick hair behind her shoulder, wondering once again why she hadn't had the sense to pull her hair back last night.

They heard a growl above them, and Karra realized with horror that there was a warg, and possibly an orc, standing on the rock they were hiding behind. She clutched the hilt of her short sword, which she had somehow managed to keep a hold on, and wondered what she would do if it came to a confrontation. Probably get herself killed.

Without warning, Kili suddenly stepped out and readied and arrow. With a twang of the bow string, the warg and orc came tumbling down on top of them. A couple of the dwarves finished them off quickly. Transfixed by how horrible it was, Karra hardly noticed what else was happening around them. She suddenly heard a great howling, and felt herself being pulled along. Grabbing her arm, Fili hissed in her ear, "Come on!"

And then they were running again. Karra tripped over a rock and sprawled to the ground, only to be pulled rather roughly to her feet, and pretty much yanked along with the company. She grabbed her sword again at the last moment, and kept a firm hold on it, wishing she had a belt or something to stick it in. Her head pounded and she was pretty sure her boots were slipping off. And rocks were everywhere. If she twisted her ankle…..! Suddenly the whole company came to a stop again. There seemed to be orcs and wargs on all sides. Karra, without even thinking, began to pull her sword out.

"There's more coming!" Kili shouted, pulling out his bow. Readying an arrow, he let it loose and an orc fell.

"We're surrounded!" Fili cried, both of his swords at the ready. Karra clutched the hilt of her own, as if to defend herself, though she knew she couldn't. Through shooting wargs and their riders, Kili suddenly exclaimed,

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us!" cried Dwalin. The warg and its orc rider approached. The dwarves formed a circle of sorts. Karra noticed that she was in the middle. She noticed that Fili was near her, his swords at the ready. He glanced her direction. She realized that he was ready to defend her to the last. This was the fourth time that day that he had saved her, or was trying to. _Must remember to thank him for this…again…._

"This way, you fools!" Gandalf suddenly shouted, popping up from behind a rock. Before Karra had time to be startled, she found herself being pulled along again. Suddenly they were sliding down into a cave.

They all just stood there for a moment. They heard the growls of orcs outside the cave entrance. They were coming closer. And then….

A horn sounded, and there were shouts and growls outside the entrance. Karra strained to see what was happening. Suddenly something came tumbling down into the cave—right in front of them.

When she realized it was an orc, Karra's stomach began to churn. And she had thought they were ugly from farther away! She backed away and turned around to keep from staring at the horrible thing.

"I didn't really want to see that," she muttered. But she turned around just in time to see Thorin examining an arrow he had pulled out of the corpse.

"Elves," he said spitefully, dropping it with disgust on the ground.

"Elves?" Karra asked confusedly. "You mean….little Santa's helper pixie things?" The dwarf standing beside her gave her a strange look. No one else responded. One of the dwarves seemed to notice something, and the others turned the direction he was looking. A path led into the rock.

"I cannot see where this pathway leads," Dwalin observed. "Do we follow it or no?"

"Follow it of course!" said Bofur eagerly.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf said.

Karra followed the others a bit apprehensively. Of course, they were heading away from the orcs, and that was _very good, _but where were they going? What if they were walking into a trap or something?

As the followed the narrow path, Karra felt weariness flooding over her. She realized that she hadn't slept at all last night and had spent nearly the whole morning running. Her feet were sore, and, in fact, every bit of her body was sore. It didn't help that the tunnel kept growing narrower until they had to squeeze through it. She also got a nasty bruise on her arm from stumbling over her own feet and tripping into the wall. She slid to the ground with a gasp, and was just attempting to pick herself up when Fili appeared at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Alright?" she snapped. "Of course not! I just spent the whole night trying not to get eaten and the whole morning running. Of course I'm not alright! Do you think…" her voice suddenly trailed off. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'm crabby."

He nodded. "I know," he said. "You're tired."

Karra couldn't even find it in her to make an 'obvious' comment. Instead her shoulders slumped and she put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry," she said again. Fili gently helped her to her feet. Karra noticed once again that he had his arm about her waist. "Thanks," she mumbled.

They walked on for a little while longer in silence. Karra tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. She found herself limping and she was pretty sure she had gotten blisters on her heels. She began to walk slower and slower until, just as she thought she could go on no longer, the rounded a bend and came out of the tunnel.

Karra stared in wonder and surprise at the scene before her. Before them lay a beautiful valley. Houses rose out of the cliffs, and waterfalls fell amongst them with the sound of tinkling water. Sunlight touched everything with an afternoon glow, making the scene even more awe-inspiring.

"The valley of Imladris," Gandalf said. "In the common tongue it's known by another name."

"Rivendell," Bilbo said softly.

* * *

_Well….another one of those movie sequences. How'd I do? Was it interesting?! :P_


	9. Chapter 9-Rivendell Day One

_**Author's Note: **__Yes, I skipped Thorin's whole 'this was your plan all along' thing. I was just getting tired of writing _every _scene from the movie, and this seemed like a good place to start the chapter, so I just decided not to write that scene. _

* * *

**Chapter 9-Rivendell Day One**

As they walked down into Rivendell, Karra felt much of her exhaustion melt away. The place was beautiful, if a bit, well, expansive and open for her tastes. She still didn't quite understand the elf thing, but apparently whatever the elves were, the built pretty homes. Bilbo seemed to agree, as he stared about in awe of the place.

They walked across a little stone bridge onto some sort of platform thing. As they stood there just looking about them, a very tall, slim person approached, coming down some steps, and began to speak to Gandalf.

"Is _that _an elf?" Karra whispered to Bofur, who happened to be standing closest to her.

Bofur nodded. "Aye, lass."

"Wow….they're….different than I expected."

"What did you expect them to be?" he asked.

Karra shook her head. "You….wouldn't understand," she said, flushing slightly at the realization of how very _different _elves were from her imagining.

As Gandalf and the elf conversed, presumably about their lodgings here or something, Karra took the moment to look around her a bit more. Everything here was _tall. _She had to admit, as pretty and awe-inspiring as it was, she rather understood the dwarves' discomfort. She felt like she was standing at the bottom of a huge skyscraper looking up trying to see the top. The place was overwhelming. Apparently elves, whatever they were, didn't have a problem with heights.

Suddenly a horn sounded in the near distance. It sounded oddly familiar, but before Karra had time to think, the dwarves were forming a tight circle with their weapons drawn.

"What's happening?" she cried as she was pushed to the center. "I thought this was a _friendly_ place!" Almost without thinking, she drew her own dagger. Whatever happened, she could at least _try _to defend herself.

An armored horseman rode around the corner, followed by a long line of others much the same. Karra gazed upward in surprise. Everything really was tall here! She felt rather insignificant next to these grand warriors. She clutched her sword hilt a little tighter as the elves formed a circle around the company. For a moment, there was tenseness in the air. And then one of the elves rode forward and greeted Gandalf.

Karra let her hold on the dagger relax a bit. If they knew Gandalf…..what was he saying? She strained her ears to hear. The words sounded strange. "What?" she muttered. The man (or _elf, _as she supposed he was) slid off his horse, and rather surprisingly, _hugged _Gandalf. Well, she hadn't expected that from one of these tall slim elegant people!

"Strange for orcs to come so near our borders," the elf said. "Something, or _someone, _has drawn them near."

Gandalf gave a little smile. "Ah, that may have been us."

The company's circle had dissipated slightly, and Thorin stepped forward, rather proudly. There were times when he really did look like a king, even when he was looking _up _at an elf who was probably three feet taller than him.

"Welcome, Thorin, son of Thrain," the tall person—Karra had heard the name Elrond or something like that?—greeted him.

"I do not believe we have met," Thorin said grudgingly.

"You have your grandfather's bearing." Elrond nodded. "I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain."

"He doesn't look that old!" Karra whispered to the dwarf closest to her.

"Elves are immortal," Balin explained. "You did not know that?"

"Immortal?" Karra exclaimed, a little louder than she would have liked. Thankfully, while some of the dwarves turned her direction, no one else seemed to notice.

Thorin was facing Elrond proudly. "Indeed," he said loftily. "He made no mention of _you._" Karra gasped a little. Well, that was rude. There went any hope of lodgings here for the night.

Surprisingly, Elrond didn't seem to mind. He turned to the company and began to say something, though no one was sure what. It was obvious he was speaking in another language. Karra wondered for one horrible moment if he was trying to put a spell on them or something. But then he was done speaking, and nothing terrible happened. She glanced around at the others uncomfortably.

Gloin stepped forward, axe raised threateningly. "What is he saying?" he growled. "Does he offer us insult?"

"No, Master Gloin," Gandalf said with a slight smile. "He is offering you _food._"

Everyone looked at each other. Karra suddenly realized that she was very hungry. "I say we take his offer," said one.

"I agree," Karra said emphatically. "I'm starving."

After a moment of discussion, Gloin stepped forward. "Ah, well, in that case, lead on," he said gruffly. The company followed the elf away.

* * *

It felt very good to sit down. The elves served them dinner, and that felt good too. But apparently, the dwarves were picky.

"I don't like green food," Ori complained. Dwalin rummaged around in his bowl _(do dwarves ever learn table manners, Karra thought) _and grumbled, "Where's the meat?"

"Have they got any chips?" Ori asked disgustedly.

"Come _on, _guys," Karra said in exasperation. "It's food! How would you have liked not having any dinner at all?!" A couple of dwarves just looked at her and continued picking rather unwillingly at their food. Karra had to admit, she would have preferred a bit more substantial meal herself, but as hungry as she was, anything tasted good right now. She ate what was given to her with a relish. Glancing Bilbo's direction, she decided he felt the same way. Although, it was a little disconcerting, having the elves watching them eat. And the music was a little too….mellow, somehow.

"What is it you have against elves, anyway?" she asked Gloin rather quietly. Just as he was about to answer, Gandalf, Elrond, Thorin, and the elf that had greeted them walked in and joined them at their meal.

Karra glanced over at Kili, who was sitting beside her, just in time to see him tossing a wink to the elven girl playing the harp. She kind of wanted to jab her elbow into his side, but giggled instead. Of course, Kili was a flirt. The way he has stared at her that first day when she was combing out her hair…some comments he had made, to her…..yes, he was definitely a flirt. She giggled again.

Dwalin took care of the jabbing-an-elbow-into-his-side thing with a harsh glare. Kili's grin faded slowly, and he tried to defend himself. "Can't say I fancy elf-maids myself," he said casually. "Too thin. They're all high cheekbones and creamy skin; not enough facial hair for me." Karra grinned and rubbed her hand over her cheek where, supposedly, a dwarf woman would have had a beard. Kili ignored her and glanced up again. "Although…." He continued with a coy grin, "That one there's not bad."

"That's not an elf maid," Dwalin said gruffly.

The elf turned slowly. Karra giggled again, and then began to laugh, when she realized that Kili had just tried to flirt with an elven man. Soon everyone was laughing uproariously. Karra now jabbed her elbow into Kili's side and said with a laugh, "Nice try, but your flirting's going to get you in trouble someday." He glared at her and took a rather large drink from the glass that was sitting in front of him. Karra took a sip of her own and made a face.

"What is this?" she asked, still holding the cup. "I've never tasted anything like it before."

"Premium elvish wine," Bofur replied, glancing into his own glass.

"Really." Karra quickly set the glass back down on the table. "Is it….strong?"

"Yes….very." Bofur took a large swig of his own.

"I see." Karra fell to eating again. She had never drank beer or wine in her life, and she didn't really want to start now. And….she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to feel its effects, whatever those may be.

She glanced up the long table to see Elrond and Gandalf examining the swords from the troll hoard. "This is Orcrist, the Goblin-Cleaver," Elrond was saying, handing the sword to Thorin. "A famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well."

_High elves? _Karra thought. _What does he mean by that? _She pulled out her own sword for a moment and stared at it before slipping it back into its sheath. Nah….it wouldn't be anything special.

"Change to tune, why don't you?" called Nori to the harp player, interrupting Karra's thoughts. "I feel like I'm at a funeral!"

"Did somebody die?" exclaimed Oin, holding his ear trumpet, which was stuffed full of a napkin, up to his ear.

"Alright lads," said Bofur, standing up, "there's only one thing for it!" And, quite to Karra's surprise, he actually climbed up onto a little table thing and began to sing.

"There was an inn, a merry old in, beneath the old grey hill…." Here he stopped with a grin and held out his hand as if to say, _come on everybody, sing it with me. _Everyone began to clap as Bofur continued, "…..and there they brew a beer so brown that man in the moon himself came down one night to drink his fill….." Karra giggled and followed along, glancing once or twice at the confused faces of the elves.

Before she knew what was happening, someone had thrown a piece of food at Bofur. A moment later, everyone was picking up pieces and tossing them every direction. "Come on, Karra," Kili said, jabbing his elbow into her side _(retribution….)_,and giving a hearty toss of a piece of lettuce.

Karra just glared at him. If everyone else was going to be horribly rude, at least she wouldn't. Clapping and singing was fun….but not throwing food. Just, no.

But then Kili pitched a piece of lettuce at her face.

Karra couldn't help herself. Picking up a piece of her own, she threw it right back in _his _face. Just once. Just for retribution. He picked up a handful and dumped it in her hair. She bit her lip.

"You're asking for a bowl of salad dumped over your head," she said threateningly.

"You wouldn't dare," he said saucily.

Karra just flipped her hair over her shoulder and began to clap again, 'accidentally' knocking part of the contents of her bowl off into his lap. Okay, _now _she was being rude….but it was oddly fun.

And then the song was over. The dwarves cheered, tossing bowls of salad in the air like confetti. Bofur gave a modest bow, as if saying, _I know…I know…you don't need to tell me how great I am. _Kili gave one last toss, almost hitting an elf in the face. Karra burst out laughing at the elf's flabbergasted expression. She flushed when everyone at her table stared at her.

"Nothing," she mumbled, hastily gathering up her mess, swiping lettuce out of her hair, and taking a sip of the elvish wine. It was dawning on her what the elves must think of them….but she wanted to burst out laughing every time she thought of that elf's face when the food hit the statue right beside him.

She was almost relieved when she saw that apparently the dwarves considered the meal finished and were getting up. She quickly caught up to Fili as they walked away.

"So…..how long do you think we'll stay here?" she asked casually, somewhat expecting an answer of _oh, about a week, _or something like that.

"Maybe one night," he replied. "Or perhaps more. At any rate, I think we are all anxious to keep going."

Karra was a bit surprised. "One night? But I thought this was a place to stop and get a good rest! I….I thought we would stay here a little longer than _one night._"

"As I said, we are all anxious to keep going." Fili shrugged. "And….I can't say I'm too eager to stay here much longer."

Karra shook her head. "I, for one, wouldn't mind staying here for a while. It seems like a good place to rest and….recover from the journey."

"I suppose," said Fili, "it is rather….peaceful."

"You don't like peaceful?"

"Well…."

"Whatever. I think I'm going to take the opportunity to explore the place a little. You?"

Fili glanced around a little uncomfortably. "You can explore as you wish."

Karra sighed. "I don't think I quite understand why you hate elves."

"We don't _hate _the elves," he protested. "We simply don't quite _trust _them. And….we have our differences."

"They seem pretty trustworthy to me."

"You have only known of them for one day."

"You got me there." Karra shrugged. "Whatever. Do what you want; I'm exploring when I get the chance."

* * *

"Whoa…." Karra stared around the chamber and back to the elf that had shown her there. "I…I get my own room?"

"Would you rather sleep with the rest of your company?" the elf maid asked gently.

Karra thought a moment. "Well…..now that I think about it….I guess it's nice to have my own room for once. And…." She looked around her again, "this is pretty nice! So, yeah, I'll keep it." She flashed a smile at the elven girl, who smiled back. Well, this elf seemed fairly accepting of Karra, even if she was kind of…different. She had gotten several stares and comments made about 'a dwarf woman' and things like that. They had only been here a couple of hours and she was _sick of it. _But the elf girl who had shown her to her chamber seemed relatively friendly. Not that the other elves weren't, but…..oh well…..it was really nice to have a real bed for once in the last couple of months.

As Karra plopped down on the comfortable looking bed, she realized how dirty she was. Everything in this chamber was nearly sparkling, and she suddenly felt _grimy. _"Hey!" she called at the retreating elf's back. She turned, all nice and graceful and darn _elven _looking, and Karra felt a little clumsy, sitting on the large bed with her legs dangling over the edge.

"Yes?" the elf replied.

"Where….where are your baths?" Karra asked, still feeling rather awkward. This wasn't supposed the _awkward, _for goodness sakes, she was talking to another _girl! _But still, she flushed slightly, realizing that the fact that she was asking about baths called attention to her messiness.

"I will show you," the elf said, motioning for Karra to follow her. Karra slid off the bed, rather clumsily, _again_, and followed the elven girl, pretty much taking two strides for every one stride of the elf's. She was out of breath pretty soon, but didn't really want to ask her to slow down, so she trotted along behind her, lagging a bit. They reached the baths soon enough, certainly soon enough for Karra. After a night of fighting trolls and a morning of fleeing orcs, she didn't want any more running to keep up with elves than was strictly necessary.

"These are our bathhouses," the girl explained, rather unnecessarily, Karra thought. But all the same, she flashed a grin at her and said, "Thanks." And then, after a slight pause, "What may I call you?"

The elf smiled back at her. "You may call me Alassiel," she replied.

"Alassiel," Karra fingered the name on her tongue. "That's pretty."

"Thank you," the elf replied with another smile. "You are able to find you way back to your chamber?"

Karra hesitated for a moment, wondering if she actually could. But her pride got the better of her and she replied, "Yeah, I can." The elf nodded, turned and walked away, leaving Karra to her bath. Karra waved after her, calling, "Bye….Alassiel." She then turned and walked into one of the bath chambers.

As she closed the door behind her and slipped her clothes off, she reflected that a year ago, she wouldn't have had any particular reason to be excited about a bath. _It's amazing what you take advantage of sometimes, _she thought. She realized with a start that the elves actually had _running water. _Wow….she didn't even think such technology was possible in this place!

It felt _very _goodto slip into the water. But what felt even better was actually using _soap. _With all the times she had bathed in streams, she hadn't had a chance to use _soap. _For the first time in _forever, _she actually felt _really _clean. And shampoo! Who would have dreamed that the elves actually _needed _shampoo? But there it was, and her hair felt deliciously clean afterwards.

After a good deal of lingering in the bath, Karra finally stepped out, let the water out, and slipped her clothes back on. They were still dirty, but she was _clean! _Karra felt that she was inordinately giddy over that fact.

Looking in the mirror gave her a bit of a surprise. Her hair, which she had usually kept to about shoulder length, had grown so that it fell to nearly mid back. It was also a bit redder than the auburn-almost-red that she had remembered it being. Perhaps being in the sun nearly constantly for a couple of months had lightened it. And, if possible, it was even _thicker _than it used to be, frizzing around her face in a large, rather tangled mass. It was nice to have a comb again, rather than just having to run her fingers through her hair. However, attempting to actually _comb _her hair took longer than she expected. When she was finally done with _that _task, she felt like she should do something with her hair, so she pulled a large section into a thick braid down the back. Finally feeling finished, she stepped out of the bath chamber into the sun outside.

She sauntered in the direction of her chamber, hoping she didn't look lost. As a matter of fact, she kind of hoped she _wasn't _lost. It was this way, wasn't it? Ummm…

Whatever. Maybe she'd just try to find the dwarves. She could find her chamber closer to bedtime. Couldn't she. She could. Of course she could. Laughing and trying to convince herself that she _wasn't _lost, she headed off in the direction she thought she needed to go to find the dwarves.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. Oh, no, another elf? She turned quickly and found herself face to face with….Fili.

"Oh….hi," she stammered. "I….I thought you were an elf."

Fili grinned at her. "Well, there's no mistaking _you_ for an elf." Karra thought she sensed and odd sort of admiration in his voice. She stared at him for a moment before replying, "Was that supposed to be a complement?"

"Oh, of course," he said. He seemed to notice her running a finger awkwardly through her hair, for he asked lightly, "What did you do with your hair?"

"I washed it," she replied dryly. "Is that such an odd thing to do?"

"Not at all."

Karra began to feel a little irritated at his light, almost careless, tone. "It might be a good thing for you to do, yourself," she retorted. The sudden thought hit her that she would like to see what he looked like with his hair nicely cleaned and combed and…maybe she could help put those braids back in after he'd washed it. That would be….fun. She pushed the thought away a little embarrassedly. Where had that come from?

Fili seemed to sense her awkwardness. He gently looped his arm through hers and said, not lightly this time, but kindly, "I'll walk you back to our quarters."

Karra sighed with relief. Maybe he knew where he was going.

* * *

_Kudos to you if you caught the Frozen reference! I'm only slightly less obsessed with that movie than I am with the Hobbit, lol._

_Review? If you review….oh, yeah, if you review, I'll give you Elrond. Yes, I'm starting this again. :D_


	10. Chapter 10-Dwarven Shenanigans

_**Author's Note: **__I started writing the first part of this chapter without any plan for where it was going and….this happened. XD_

* * *

**Chapter 10-Dwarven Shenanigans**

Karra opened her eyes slowly and looked around her. Something seemed oddly different about this…this wasn't what she was used to. The bed she was lying on was quite comfortable. She rolled over and sighed. She wasn't quite ready to get up.

Wait a minute…..she was lying on a bed? How was she not sleeping on the ground like she had for the last couple of months? Suddenly it all came back to her. They were at Rivendell….the home of the elves. She sighed and buried herself deeper in the blankets. If they were only going to be here for a couple of days, she might as well get as much sleep as she could.

* * *

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"What is it?" Karra grumbled, opening her eyes with a groan.

_Knock. Knock. _"Karra!" she heard a voice exclaim.

"Just one more minute," she mumbled, rolling over and burying her face in the comfortable pillow.

"Karra! I came to wake you up. The elves are having the morning meal and I didn't think you'd want to miss it."

"What….Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "I'm coming!" She slid out of bed, practically jumping to the ground—these beds obviously weren't made for short people—smoothed her rumbled clothes, ran her ringers through her hair—entirely forgetting that she actually had a comb and a mirror at her disposal—and headed out the door, running right smack into Kili, who was standing outside waiting for her.

"Oh….hi….good morning….sorry," she fumbled, trying to fit her apologies and morning greetings into one sentence and failing. "Where are we going?"

"To breakfast, of course." Kili led her in the direction of what she presumed to be breakfast. That, or he was playing some dirty trick on her. She wouldn't put that past him.

Presently, to her relief, they came upon a long table of elves and the rest of the dwarves. Apparently she _had _slept in…..breakfast had already been served, and some were almost finished. Hoping against hope that no one teased her about how late she was, she slid into a seat in between Bofur and Kili. She would have picked a different one, but there wasn't one available beside Fi—anyone else. _Great. _This was going to be interesting.

"Well, here's the sleepy lass!" Bofur announced loudly as she sat down. "Are you awake now, Karra?"

"Not really, but there's a right way to wake me up and a wrong way to wake me up, and announcing to the whole world that I slept in late is the wrong way," she retorted. She sighed as she looked at the food in front of her…..more vegetables…..all healthy. Oh well. Maybe this meal wouldn't be as….eventful….as yesterday's.

Fortunately, it wasn't. But it was still quite obvious that the dwarves didn't quite fit in here. After finishing his meal, Gloin of them let out a loud burp, quite horrifying the elves. Karra caught Nori slipping something into the pocket of his tunic. Dori complained about the greens. The dwarves' conversation turned a bit rowdy. And worst of all, Karra managed to knock her glass over—straight into Bofur's lap.

"Oh….I'm sorry!" she cried, then remembered dumping her bowl onto Kili's lap yesterday and began to giggle.

"I've had worse things on these clothes than elvish drink," Bofur replied with a grin. A moment later, though, he 'accidentally' dumped his glass over—straight into _Karra's _lap.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. But then she grinned. "Oh, you….we are not starting that again." Bofur began to laugh, and then Kili started laughing, and pretty soon the whole table—well, the whole table minus the elves—was laughing uproariously.

Karra shook her head. "I'm done with my breakfast anyway," she said firmly, slamming her bowl down on the table, and managing to spill the salad in the process. Laughing a little and gathering her mess up into one place, she slid off the chair, which was obviously not built for dwarves or people of dwarven size _either_. Half of her felt like she would be glad to get out of here; the other half felt like she would never get tired of giggling at the elves' strange looks at them.

Apparently the rest of the company was finished, too, for soon everyone began to drift off. Karra found herself walking beside Kili, much to her annoyance.

"Hi," she said, trying to sound stiff, and failing. It was obvious that Kili was trying to hold his laughter back. "What?!" she exclaimed. Glancing down at herself, she too began to laugh. "It looks like I wet my pants, doesn't it."

Kili looked rather shocked. "Well….." he said, "I wasn't thinking of _that._"

"Then what were you laughing about?"

"The look on your face when Bofur…." He began to laugh again.

"Alright, alright." Karra rolled her eyes. "I'll dump my glass on _you _next time." Suddenly she noticed they were walking by a fountain, and a mischievous grin grew on her face. She stopped walking for a moment, and as soon as Kili had walked past her, she reached down and splashed some water at his back. He turned around and stared at her for a moment, and then, with an equally mischievous grin, splashed some water right back at her. Her eyes narrowed, and she scooped up a handful of water and practically threw it at his face. Almost before she had time to duck, he was throwing water right back at her. Pretty soon, they were in the middle of a regular water fight, throwing water at each other as fast as they could.

Suddenly Karra thought she heard a step behind her. She stopped quickly and looked behind her.

"What is it?" Kili asked, stopping in mid-splash.

"An elf," Karra hissed. "Quick, get behind the fountain!"

Kili wrinkled his brow. "Why?"

"Do you want an _elf _to see us like _this_?" she asked, gesturing to her dripping clothes. "They'll think we're the weirdest things ever." She pulled him by the hand and they ducked behind the fountain just as the elf walked by. Suddenly Karra had the almost irresistible urge to jump out and yell _Boo!, _just to see if she could make the elf drop some of his graceful decorum. She put her hand over her mouth to stop the giggles, and glanced over at…..

Wait a minute, where was Kili? He was supposed to be right beside her…..

"Up here!" Karra looked up to see that Kili had actually climbed the fountain, which was in the shape of a woman pouring water, and was now sitting on her hair. "That elf was rather surprised to find a dwarf sitting on his fountain." Kili raised an eyebrow and gave Karra a lopsided mischievous grin.

"Hey, you!" Karra exclaimed. "Get down here!" But instead of coming down, he simply reached a hand towards her, and Karra rather suddenly found herself sitting on top of fountain with him.

"Hey," she said with a shrug, "the view's pretty nice up here!"

"Isn't it?" Kili gave her a smile and raised an eyebrow in a way that could only be described as flirting. Oh, no, not _that _again.

"Kili…." she began, exasperated, but Fili chose that unfortunate moment to walk by.

"Kili!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing…..and Karra! What are you doing up _there_?!"

"Wanted to see what the view looked like from up higher," Karra said awkwardly.

"I see. Well, I suggest you get down before someone sees you."

"Oh, someone already has," Karra said dryly. "At least, the elf saw _your brother._ I had sense enough not to climb up here until he _pulled _me up—Hey!" she suddenly exclaimed, for Kili had given her a nudge that threw off her balance, and before she knew what was happening, she found herself sliding down right….into….the….fountain.

She came up spluttering and completely soaked. "This—was—all—your—fault!" she exclaimed, shaking her fist at Kili. "And _don't _laugh," she exclaimed, turning to Fili. "It's not funny!"

The corners of his mouth twitching, Fili offered her his hand. "Would you like me to help you out of there?" he asked, the amusement in his voice barely concealed.

"No thank you," she said stiffly, standing up and stepping out. A small puddle began to form at her feet. Still trying to stand on her dignity, she looked up at Kili and said firmly, "You are coming down here this minute—the same way I did."

"No, thank you," Kili said lightly, sliding down the back of the fountain. "I'd rather not do it the way _you _did."

"I'd suggest you go get dried off," Fili said with a huge grin on his face.

Karra just glared at him.

* * *

Karra slowly wandered the stately halls of Rivendell. The setting sun hit everything with an early evening light, making it glow. She sighed. She could stay here forever, just for this view.

She had finally gotten a chance to explore the place a little. After managing to get herself somewhat dried off, though not completely, not having any dry clothes to change into, she had been pulled along by the rest of the company in a series of Dwarven shenanigans, from raiding the elves' kitchens in hopes of finding some good beer or ale (of which of course there was none) to bathing in a large fountain (completely _undressed_—ick, Karra hadn't been a part of _that _one). She was constantly getting the feeling that these kinds of things would be perfectly fine in a Dwarven home, but were totally out of place in the Elven home. Finally, she had taken an opportunity to slip off and explore a little. It was nice to be by herself for a bit. The view was wonderful, with the waterfalls and the sunset and the graceful architecture. She slowly wandered into an open hall that looked to be something of a museum, with paintings and a statue or two. The sun slanted through a grand window, hitting something on a platform with a ray of light. Karra wandered over to look. On display sat a sword, broken in shards, laid out on a piece of cloth.

_That's odd,_ she thought. _Who keeps a broken sword? I'd think it'd be useless. _

After a moment, she wandered back out, nearly bumping into an elf on the porch outside. "Sorry…" she mumbled, her face reddening. Bumping into someone significantly taller than you was rather embarrassing. As she walked away, she noticed the elven lady staring at her.

"A dwarf woman…." The elf said softly. Karra rolled her eyes. This was probably, like, the _tenth _weird look she had gotten from an elf. It was getting really old.

She dawdled back to the dwarves' quarters, stopping frequently to gaze at the moonrise over Rivendell. The view was almost, _almost, _more stunning at night, with silver moonlight touching everything, and the gently tinkling of waterfalls lending the scene an ethereal quality. What could anyone every have against this place? How could the dwarves be so uncomfortable here? At that moment, she felt like she could stay here forever.

The moment was broken when she reached the dwarves' quarters. The seemed to be having some sort of noisy party; they had a fire (what was that that they were burning?!), and were roasting things over it. She slipped in and sat down in the background. Of course Fili was the first to notice she was there. He greeted her with a friendly, "You're back."

She moved closer to him. "I still don't see what you have against this place," she said. "I mean, it's beautiful."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not that again."

She shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, what are you roasting? Looks good." Gloin reached over and handed her a sausage. "Thanks….where'd you get that? I thought the elves were vegetarians."

"Out of our own food supply," Fili replied.

"And _what _are you burning?" she asked, a sudden suspicion rising in her.

Fili looked a bit uncomfortable. "I'm not exactly sure you want to know…."

Karra shook her head. "I'm afraid that's rather disrespectful, burning their furniture."

Fili stared at her.

"Well, I'm not that dumb," she retorted. "I _can _figure some things out. But I suppose you doubt that."

He laughed. "Of course I don't! But there are times…."

Karra gave him a playful scowl. "Has anyone ever told you you're annoying?"

"My brother did once….."

* * *

Karra couldn't sleep. It wasn't the usual night sounds that were keeping her awake; she had gotten used to that over the course of their travels. And it wasn't the fact that it was probably one o'clock in the morning and she had just gotten to bed. She could usually sleep anywhere. But not here, tonight. She raised herself on one elbow and looked around. The moonlight filtered through windows, casting blue shadows about the room. Gently slipping out of bed, she tiptoed to the doorway and slipped out onto the porch outside her bedroom. Maybe fresh air would help.

The moon was high in the sky by now, illuminating Rivendell with silver. Karra leaned on the railing and stared up at the stars, thinking. The night air was cool and invigorating. She realized with a little smile that this wasn't going to help her sleep; it was probably just serving to wake her up. She didn't really care. At least it was better than lying awake alone in a room.

_Alone. _Maybe that was the problem. She had gotten so used to sleeping by others, that when she finally had a chance to sleep by herself, she couldn't. Last night she had been exhausted. Today had been a slower day, and good day to rest up for the coming journey. Now if only she felt the least little bit sleepy.

"Karra." A voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned quickly to see Fili standing behind her. He walked to her side. She could imagine how _romantic _the scene must look, with the moonlight illuminating the everything with silver, and a slight flush rose in her cheeks.

"I couldn't sleep," she said softly.

"I couldn't either."

Karra raised an eyebrow. "_You _couldn't sleep?"

He nodded, but said nothing. It seemed obvious that something was wrong. Almost unconsciously, she began to finger the key around her neck nervously. She felt the necklace she had picked up in the troll hoard, and realized that she had completely forgotten about it. As it slipped out from behind her shirt, the moonlight glinted off of it.

"What is that?" Fili asked.

"It's a necklace," she said lamely. "I….I found it in the troll hoard. I picked it up because it….it looks just like one my mom used to have."

Fili looked at it with a strange look on his face. "How odd. It is obviously of dwarven make."

"Weird." Karra shook her head. "Maybe it's a coincidence?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps there is something more here at work than you know."

"Well, you're being all solemn all of a sudden," Karra said lightly. "Why the sudden seriousness?"

There was something odd in his look. "I know this might be the last time I'll ever see you," he said softly, almost to himself.

"What are you saying?!" exclaimed Karra.

"My uncle told me…." he stopped, as if unwilling to say it. After a moment, he continued. "You are to stay here," he said abruptly.

Karra drew back a bit. "Stay here? But I thought it was kind of an unspoken….agreement that I was going with you!"

"Remember what he said when we first found you? You were to travel with us _until we found a place for you._"

Karra looked away and swallowed. "But I thought…." Her voice trailed off. "I was starting to feel like….one of you. I thought everyone had accepted me."

Fili nodded. "I did too. But my uncle's word is law. You must stay." He paused. "I am sorry."

"Oh, I am too," she said darkly. She raised her face to his suddenly, her eyes flashing. "Why didn't you speak up for me? Why didn't you tell him I was going with you?"

"Believe me, I tried." He turned away. "I am very sorry, Karra. I tried as hard as I could."

Karra swallowed hard. "I thought I was one of you." She rested her head in her hands, moving slightly further away. She felt Fili's hand on her shoulder.

"Please," she said stiffly, without looking at him. "Just leave me."

"Very well," he replied, and she heard his footsteps as he walked away. The moonlight glinted on a tear in her eye.

* * *

_I'm really sorry if this chapter isn't quite as good as the others, I didn't have as much time to proofread it before posting. This week has been way too busy for me. :P_

_Also, I probably won't be updating next week. I'm in a play, and next week is performance week, so my schedule is crazy busy. I don't think I'll have much time to get on the computer at all, much less actually get on here and update! I'll miss you all, but it's only for a week. ;)_


	11. Chapter 11-One of the Company

_**Author's Note: **__I'm back! Since I haven't updated in a bit, I just had to post this chapter a day early. My schedule is back to somewhat normal now, so I should be updating fairly regularly for a bit. Until I catch up with myself. Which might be soon, since I've been suffering from a sever attack of writer's block lately….._

* * *

**Chapter 11-One of the Company**

Karra sighed and buried her face deeper in her pillow. She didn't _really_ have to get up now, did she? The bed was so comfortable, and…

And….

And…the realization hit her like a blast of wind. The dwarves were leaving today!

Without her! She suddenly remembered her conversation with Fili last night. The dwarves were leaving, or maybe they had already left, without her. She flew out of bed, and, without even thinking to comb her hair or smooth her rumpled clothes, rushed to the nearest dwarf's quarters, hoping against hope that they hadn't left yet….she had to say goodbye, or….or maybe she could convince them to let her go with them.

No one answered her knock. Upon further investigation, she found that the chamber was empty. On to the next…..and the next…..and the next….and they were all empty. The dwarves had left—without even waking her up to say goodbye. What was she supposed to do now? Just linger around Rivendell until she died of boredom? Well, maybe a little more exploring would be kind of fun. If anything could be called _fun _after being left behind by the only friends she had in this world.

She thought of breakfast. Dejected, she headed slowly in the direction of the breakfast area. She would be the only short person there this morning, and probably for the rest of her life. The thought was depressing. She had no friends here. Well, maybe she could find the elf she had met the day they had arrived here—was it _Alassiel_?_—_but that probably wouldn't go anywhere. She had lost the only friends she had, and would never see them again.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed that Elrond had caught up to her and was walking beside her. All of a sudden, she glanced up and saw him looking down at her, a slight smile on his face.

"Hi," she said, a little shyly.

"The leader of you company spoke to me yesterday about you," he said.

Karra raised an eyebrow. "_Thorin_ spoke to _you_?" she asked incredulously.

"Very briefly." Karra thought she caught a hint of humor in his voice, and grinned slightly. _Very briefly, _indeed. It was probably below Thorin just to look Elrond in the face, much less actually _speaking _to him. "I was told you were to stay here," Elrond continued. "That is all."

Karra nodded sadly. "Yeah. Apparently I wasn't really part of the company. I thought I was." She stopped herself. Was she confiding in a stranger? How embarrassing.

Elrond gave her a compassionate smile. "Perhaps they are only trying to protect you."

"Yeah maybe. I think they just don't want me around." She remembered Fili's look last night. "Well, _Thorin _doesn't want me around. And he's the leader, so…." She shrugged. "I didn't really want to stay." _Oh! _"I mean….It's not like I don't like it here…..I really do…." _Why _did she have to have such a horrible habit of saying things before she thought? Now she'd probably offended him!

He didn't seem offended. "You will be safe here," he replied, changing the subject nicely.

"Yeah, thanks." She looked away. "I mean, I'm sure I'll like it here." _I guess. I'd like it more traveling with Fili….with the dwarves. _"Really, thought, thanks for….letting us stay. You don't know how much this place has refreshed me, at least. I'm not sure about the others." There she went again, spouting off rude sounding things. Sometimes she was so darn _awkward_.

With a gentle smile, Elrond put a hand on her shoulder. It was as if he _understood. _And then he walked away, leaving her to do what she wanted. For a moment, she stared after him. And then, turning, she stared up at the mountain pass by which she was sure the dwarves had left.

Karra was never quite sure what got into her. With a glance back at Elrond, and glance at the mountains, a sudden thought occurred to her. Without a moment's consideration, she turned and ran after Elrond.

"Mr. Elrond!" she called. No, that wasn't right. "Lord Elrond!" Finally catching up to his long strides, she huffed, "Which way did the dwarves leave?"

He turned in surprise. "Which way did they leave?" he said. "Well, the way they came, I suppose. I was not here to see them leave."

"Oh, right." Karra made a face. "Because they just kind of _snuck out, _didn't they." She pointed. "So they left that way?"

"I suppose." Elrond gave her a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh…." She replied, trying to sound innocent. "I just had a thought."

"I see." Elrond glanced up at the mountain pass. "Well, I will leave you to your….thought." It was as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, and it was a little eerie. She glanced away guiltily.

The minute Elrond was around the corner, Karra took off. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of the mountains, across the bridge, and up the little path. She slowed a little on the ascent, focusing on keeping her footing. She struggled her way up to the mountain pass and was completely out of breath when she got there. Looking back and forth, she tried to decide which way the dwarves had gone. Well, the probably hadn't gone back into the cliffs, so that left only one way. As soon as she had gotten her breath, she started off as fast as she could without losing her footing down the narrow path along the side of the mountain.

Pretty soon she was thoroughly out of breath, both from walking fast and from trying not to slip and fall over the edge. How far had the dwarves gotten this morning? She was getting very tired from walking, and the mountain path was…..dizzyingly high. _Focus on the view, _she told herself. The view was….beautiful, with the mountains spread out before her, some tipped with snow, some covered in trees. She glanced back. She could no longer see Rivendell. A strange sense of longing flooded over her. Perhaps she should have stayed.

No. She had made her decision. She would feel kind of stupid going back now. Pushing back all sentimental missing-Rivendell thoughts, she pushed on, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other, and not to look down the mountainside. Gradually, the narrow path widened slightly. After a long while, Karra heard faintly echoing voices. Her heart quickened, and she walked a bit faster. She was catching up!

Turning a corner, she came rather suddenly on the company. At first, no one noticed her. She walked rather nonchalantly right into the middle of them before anyone actually did see her.

"You came!" exclaimed Kili a little too loudly.

All heads turned their direction. Everyone stared at Karra. She gulped. For a moment, she regretted her decision. But then, standing as tall as she could, she tried to look determined, and was pretty sure she failed.

For a moment, everyone was silent. And then Thorin slowly approached her. Karra was almost _scared. _

"Did I not say you were to stay at Rivendell?" he said sternly.

"Yes." She swallowed hard.

"Did I not say you were only to travel with us until we found a place for you?" he asked.

"Yes." Karra backed away a little.

"Then _why did you follow us_?"

"I…" Karra fumbled for an explanation. "I…I wanted to be part of the company. I was starting to feel like one of you." She grew more confident as she spoke. "I couldn't just let you leave without me. I…I feel like I've invested some of me in this….this quest. I couldn't bear not being there when….when it ends." She stood up straighter and tried to meet his eyes, but that proved something she couldn't do. She quickly turned away from his dark gaze.

"This journey will be long and dangerous," he said darkly. _As if it hasn't already been dangerous, _Karra thought. "We cannot allow a woman to travel with us."

Karra suddenly felt anger rising in her. Hadn't she traveled with them for nearly their whole journey so far? And hadn't she become as good as one of them? A woman! How dare he!

"And so you'd leave me with the elves, who you don't trust?!" she exploded.

There was a moment of silence. Everyone stared at her.

"Uncle," Fili spoke up after what seemed an eternity, "I think we should let her stay with us."

"Yes," Kili piped up. "She's traveled with us for so long….."

Bilbo unexpectedly spoke up. "We should let her come," he said shyly. "You let me come."

This time everyone stared at Bilbo. Thorin turned his dark gaze away from Karra for a moment, then looked back at her. Fili tapped him on the shoulder. "Uncle…" He motioned for Thorin to come with him. Kili and Balin followed them.

"I guess they're too polite to talk about me in front of me," she said nervously, at the same time noticing how weird that sentence had sounded. Trying not to watch them talk, she leaned back against the cliff and attempted to look nonchalant, and failed. The entire company was silent, as if they were waiting, too.

Finally, after what seemed longer than an eternity, the four came walking back. After a slight dramatic pause, Thorin looked her direction, and said slowly,

"You will travel with us."

Kili let out a whoop and clapped her on the back. She just grinned as Fili took her hand and squeezed it, and Balin said congenially, "You're one of us now, lass."

Karra beamed. "Yeah….one of the company!"

With only a glance in her direction, Thorin ordered, "Move along."

"I suppose you realize this entitles you to a share in the treasure?" Kili asked her as they walked.

"Treasure? You never told me the benefits!" Karra exclaimed.

"Ah, yes, treasure, lass," Balin chimed in. "Great halls of it. Halls of gold….and many other treasures. The Arkenstone. Have you ever heard of the Arkenstone, lass?"

The conversation continued for most of the rest of the day. As they walked, the ledge grew wider and sloped gently downward, until they had traveled out of the cliffs that surrounded Rivendell. The sun had almost set when they made camp for the night. Karra had to admit, as uncomfortable as ponies were, walking for a day was almost worse.

"I think my legs are going to collapse," she groaned as she plopped down on the ground, watching everyone else make camp. "And I'm pretty sure I forgot my bedroll."

"Here." Dwalin tossed a blanket in her direction. "Use this."

She stared at it. "That doesn't look comfortable." She was ignored. With a little huff, she laid down with her hands behind her head. "Ah….it feels good to lay down," she sighed. "That was a _lot _of walking."

"I thoroughly agree." Karra turned her head to see Bilbo sitting beside her. "Ponies were better."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Oh…thanks for helping convince Thorin to let me stay."

"You did a fair bit of convincing yourself. Your comment about the elves…."

Karra flushed. "It just kind of….came out. I'm not sure how I could be so saucy to him."

"Saucy? I thought it was clever."

"Well, thanks, I guess. But it seems like Fili and Kili and Balin did most of the convincing." She rolled over and sat up. "Isn't the scenery here awesome? I love sunsets like these….."

* * *

Karra sat up and stared at the moon. She really must find something better to sleep on, she thought. The blanket made a good pillow, but she was sure the rest of her would be very sore in the morning. And just like last night, she couldn't sleep. She felt that even though she had been traveling with the company for weeks, this was her first real night on the quest. She was one of them now! And she had a share in the treasure. _Treasure. _She fingered the necklace she had found in the troll hoard, and with it came the thought of her mother. And her father. For the first time in a while, she began to wonder _who _her father was. That strange conversation between Fili and Kili that she had heard…._perhaps her father had known of this world. _What an odd thought.

She quietly stood up and tiptoed to the edge of camp. What a strange adventure this had been! What was to come?

She had no idea of the adventures that lay before her.

* * *

_I just realized that I have 45 follows! Yay! I can't believe so many people like my story enough to follow it! I love every one of you! And I just used way to many exclamation points!_

_Please review? _


	12. Chapter12-An Interesting Family Heritage

_**Author's Note: **__Umm…another really short chapter. But I think I managed to pack a lot into 2,000 words, so yeah. _

* * *

**Chapter 12-An Interesting Family Heritage**

Walking, walking, walking—it seemed like that was all they ever did. Uphill, downhill, into the gently foothills of the Misty Mountains, they walked. The beautiful scenery at least somewhat kept Karra's mind off her sore feet. And really, Balin's boots _were _pretty comfortable. She did regret forgetting her bedroll, though. The ground was sometimes rocky, sometimes grassy, but almost always hard. At least now she could choose who to travel beside, and wasn't forced to ride behind someone on a pony every day. She did kind of miss the ponies, though….

The conversations continued, and Karra learned more and more about the Kingdom of Erebor. She learned that her share of the treasure was much larger than she could ever have imagined it to be. What would her mother think, she wondered. Her mom had always had kind of a thing for gold and jewels. It seemed that with all this talking and traveling and _questing, _she still had time to miss her home. Not that she wasn't glad she'd come. Who knows—maybe there was some great reason she was on this quest!

And so one day she was walking along, daydreaming about gold and treasure, when Balin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"May I see your key, lass?" he asked.

Karra jumped. He had startled her out of her musings. "You know about my key?" she asked a little uncertainly. "How?"

"Fili told me," he replied. He raised an eyebrow. "He told me you have had it with you the entire time you have been with us."

Karra nodded. "Yeah, I just never really saw the need to tell anyone about it. I mean, it's just a little trinket that was my dad's…." She pulled the key out from under her shirt and unhooked the chain it hung on. "Here. You can take a look at it if you want." Balin took it and gently fingered it. For a time, they walked along in silence, Balin examining the key. Once he muttered something under his breath, and Karra looked over and was shocked to see that it was glowing slightly around the edges. However, he quickly closed his hand around it, effectively quenching the white light. After a bit, he spoke. Carefully slipping the key back into her hand, he said, "It is as I thought."

Karra clasped the key tightly. "What?"

Balin nodded sagely. "This is one of the keys."

"One of the keys?" Karra's curiosity was peaked. "Are they, like, some sort of famous thing or something?"

"Not exactly _famous,_" Balin began. "In fact, the three keys were known only to a few. Your father was one of them."

Karra jumped. "My father? How is that even possible?"

"Has no one ever told you about your father, lass?" Balin asked. He seemed genuinely confused. "Your father was a dwarf of Erebor, thought dead when the dragon attacked. As we now know," he glanced at the key in her hand, "he simply disappeared. I always knew he was the possessor of one of the keys, but I never dreamed he'd actually used it."

Karra nearly fell over. "Wait, my dad was a _dwarf_? How….how….." She thought of her mom, and a slight smile grew on her face. "I mean, my mom was never the tallest, but _seriously…._"

Balin laughed. "I assume you mother was of the race of men?" he asked.

"If you mean human, _yeah, _of _course,_" Karra exclaimed. "Well, I mean, I guess…..I thought was dad was human until _now….._" She rolled her eyes. "How is that even possible? How could I never have known?"

Balin raised an eyebrow. "I am rather surprised your mother never told you the truth."

"Well, it's not like she _lied _to me," Karra protested. "Now that I think about it, she _was _always saying I got my height from my dad…." She suddenly began to laugh. "All those weeks trying to convince you I wasn't a dwarf! Now what am I supposed to say? I guess you were all laughing at me behind your beards, weren't you." All at once, she stopped. Turning back to Balin, she asked, "What do you mean by 'one of the keys'? Is this thing some sort of…..well, what is it?"

Balin began with the air of one telling a tale. "It is said that other realms exist parallel to ours. It is told by some that on Durin's day…"

Karra interrupted. "Durin's day?"

"Durin's day is the first day of the dwarves' new year," Balin explained. "It is the day that the last moon of Autumn and the first sun of Winter appear in the sky together. This actual occurrence is very rare, and said to have some connection with some sorts of magic. As I was saying, some say that in certain times and places on Durin's day, the line between realities blurs, and realms will intersect. Any object made on those times and in those places will exist in both realms at once, or will hold the power to travel between those realms. Three keys were forged in the right time and the right place many years ago. The doors they unlock have long been forgotten or fallen into oblivion. But the keys still exist. Your father possessed one. He gave it to you."

Karra tried to keep the shock off her face. "How do you know it was my dad's?" she asked.

"I recognize it as the key I know was his. I saw it once. The design and engravings are the same. That could be no coincidence."

Karra didn't know what to say. This, this she had never dreamed of! "This necklace?" she asked, pulling the necklace out. "It…it looks just like one my mom had. Does….does that have anything to do with anything?"

Balin nodded. "Perhaps. It is certainly possible that your father could have given you mother a dwarven necklace." Gently taking her hand, which she had clenched around the key, he asked, "May I show you something, lass?"

Karra nodded, opening her hand and staring at the key. "Sure." Balin ran his finger over the key and muttered something. Part of the intricate design began to glow.

"See those letters, lass?"

Karra shook her head. "Letters?" she said blankly. "All I see is the design."

Balin pointed to the glowing design. "These are dwarf-runes."

"Those are _letters_? I always thought they were just part of the design."

"Yes, lass, dwarf-letters. Translated into the common tongue, they read, 'I gift this to my daughter, in the hopes that she may someday discover her heritage.' Your father meant this for you."

Karra gasped. "My mom….my mom always told me he wanted me to have it after his…..disappearance, but….I never realized….."

Balin smiled sympathetically. "I know this is all rather sudden, lass." He carefully set the key back in her hand. The glow had faded now. "I understand it must be a shock." He patted her on the shoulder. "But you must realize that you have a proud heritage."

"So you knew my dad?" Karra asked. A sudden thought occurred to her. "Was he…..related….to…..anyone?"

"Related?" Balin shook his head. "Not exactly." He suddenly seemed to realize what she was saying, and glanced Fili and Kili's direction. "Not to closely related, that is. Not too closely at all." He gave her a knowing smile.

Karra let out a sigh of relief. If she had actually been _related _to….never mind. That would have been overly awkward. She smiled weakly at Balin. "Thanks….thanks for telling me this. I guess I needed to know sometime." She swallowed hard. "But it's all so….." her voice trailed off. "So odd. I mean, I never even dreamed….."

Balin patted her on the shoulder. "I know, lass, I know." He smiled compassionately at her.

Karra giggled. "This is….I don't even know what to think. I mean, I guess it's cool to be a dwarf….of course it is!" She stopped laughing as she thought of something. "I really need to talk to someone." Tossing a smile back at Balin, she ran off, and catching up with Fili, gave him a dark glare.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she burst out.

He looked a bit surprised. "Tell you what?"

"Why didn't you tell me about….this!" she pulled the key out and shoved it into his hand. "And about me! Or did you know?"

After staring at the key for a moment, he looked up at her with a slightly guilty look on his face. "I knew," he said softly.

"Then WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" she exclaimed.

"I….didn't want to shock you. I was waiting for the right time."

"Well, apparently Balin wasn't. I'm glad you didn't keep 'waiting for the right moment' until the end of the quest—or never," Karra retorted.

"I'm sorry, I really am," Fili said, and Karra thought she detected a little sheepishness in his voice. "I don't know what else to say to you." And then, rather suddenly, he took her hand, drew it towards him, and kissed it. And, looking straight into her eyes, he asked, "Will that do?"

Karra gasped. A funny little tingle ran down her spine, and she felt an odd fluttery feeling in her stomach. For a moment, she just stared into his eyes, and then said a little breathlessly, "Yes….that'll do…just fine…."

"Good," Fili said, and took her hand and kissed it again. Karra caught her breath again and found herself being drawn closer. She nearly choked from the surprising delightfullness of the moment. She felt Fili's mustache tickling the back of her hand. Her heart began to beat very fast.

And then someone bumped into them. Karra thought afterwards that Kili had done it on purpose, for he drew back with a very contrived sounding, "Oh, terribly sorry." The moment was broken. Fili gently let her hand go and they walked on, catching up with the rest of the company. Karra's heart was still pounding. He had kissed her hand! And it had felt _good_! As she let her hand drop to her side, she bumped the sword that she had picked up in the troll hoard, which she had managed to secure, though not very well, to a makeshift belt she had made. The sword slipped out and fell to the ground. Blushing hard, she reached down to pick it up.

"Leave it to me to drop a sword," she muttered. "And I still have no idea how to use this thing."

Fili looked in her direction, apparently having heard what she said. For a moment, her heart began to pound again as she stared at him, her hand holding her sword hanging at her side.

"I think I'll just have to teach you, then," Fili said.

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_Whew! I think I reacted the same way Karra did when Fili kissed her hand. I mean, I was just writing along, and all of a sudden…..oh my gosh, did he just kiss her hand?! Seriously, that happens to me a lot. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing. XD _


	13. Chapter 13-Unsuccessful Swordplay

_**Author's Note: **__I was super nervous about posting this chapter, because I'm a total amateur when it comes to all that swordfighting stuff. I kind of tried to skim over it a little, so I'm sorry this chapter is so horribly short._

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**Chapter 13-Unsuccessful Swordplay **

Karra's shoulders slumped as Fili drew his sword away from her throat again.

"I'm never going to get this," she grumbled, letting her sword arm drop to her side.

"You've only just begun learning," Fili said encouragingly. "You shouldn't expect to master it in a couple of days."

"Was that meant to encourage me?" Karra asked with a sigh.

"Yes." Fili gripped his sword and raised it. "Shall we continue?"

Karra nodded. Fili held his sword at the ready. "Swing at me." Karra gave a weak little swing. "Put some assertiveness in it," he said with a laugh. "You're not going to hurt me." Karra backed up and tried to charge at Fili, her short sword clashing with his. He easily blocked her swing.

"You won't do anything that way," he advised. "Harder. Imagine I'm the actual enemy."

Karra gritted her teeth. "Right." Backing up a bit, she was stopped by Fili.

"Fix your stance." He gently corrected her. "If you stance is weak, you will be easily disarmed. Now. Swing at me again." Karra charged forward and their swords met. "Harder!" he cried. "I'm an orc, remember?" Gripping his sword, he said firmly, "Now. Block me." He swung his sword, and Karra raised her own clumsily to block him, and promptly got it knocked out of her hand.

"You swing hard," she gasped, bending down to pick it up.

"Exactly what I'm trying to get you to do. Now, block me again."

"Right." This time Karra kept a firmer grip on her own sword and was somewhat more successful.

And so it continued. They practiced for probably an hour, Fili gently correcting her, helping her, showing her various techniques. Back and forth, block and swing, fix your stance, hold our sword like this, swing harder, fix your stance, block and swing, and so on and so forth. Karra finally stopped for a moment, sweating and completely out of breath.

"I don't think you know how _tiring _this is," she gasped.

"Would you like to rest?" Fili asked.

Karra straightened. "NO!" she exclaimed. "I mean….I really need the practice. Sorry." With a firm grip on her sword, she tried to look determined. "Ready?"

Fili raised an eyebrow. "Who's training who?" he asked. "Are _you _ready?"

Karra took a deep breath. "Yeah."

They continued for a while longer, until Karra finally just plopped down on the ground, completely worn out. "I….think….I'm ready….to stop now," she gasped. "I am _never _going to be able to handle a _battle, _for goodness sakes!" She wiped the sweat off her forehead. "I never realized this was going to be this…_exhausting_."

Fili sat down beside her. "I remember when I was first learning," he said. "I felt the same way you do. That I would never _get it_." Slipping his sword back into its sheath, he smiled at her. "But I did."

"After, what, _sixty years_?" Karra retorted. "I don't have that long!"

"We'll practice every evening," Fili replied. "You'll begin to get it."

Karra sighed. "Begin."

"It took me years to master it, myself."

"And now you even know how to use _two._" Karra looked at him with a bit of admiration. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Use two swords."

"It took me a long time to master."

"I'm sure it did." Karra sighed. "I just hope this….quest…doesn't involve any huge major battles or anything like that. I'd probably get myself killed."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Fili said with a smile. "None of us would let that happen. You are one of us now. And none of us could stand on our honor if we let a lady get killed and didn't even try to protect her."

"So you'd protect because of your honor," she said quietly. "Is that all?"

"Not all." Fili looked at her seriously. "We would protect you because we value you. You are one of us."

Karra sighed. "One of you," she said. "I wonder what my mom would think if she saw me now. On a quest to reclaim a kingdom." She laughed. "She'd probably be proud. I mean, it's part of my heritage. I guess."

Fili gave her a probing look. "What do you mean by 'you guess'?"

"Well…." Karra stopped for a moment. Did she really want to tell him about her inner problems? "Well," she finally continued, "sometimes I feel like….like I only half belong anywhere. Like, my mom's heritage is in…." did she call it _her world_? "…..the...other world...and my dad's heritage is here. So where do I belong? Do I belong anywhere?"

"You belong wherever you want to," Fili said, and patted her on the shoulder. "You have a home with us, wherever we may travel, as long as you choose."

Karra sighed again. She knew quite well that Balin could show her how to use her key to get back to her world (or was it even her world?) but now…..she felt like she was a part of this quest, and she would never leave now. "Well," she said, trying to sound cheery, "right now I choose to continue practicing."

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_I want to apologize for this...I know it wasn't as good as the others, but like I said, I'm a total amateur at all this stuff. :P I hope it was okay._


	14. Chapter 14-Storm Giants?

_**Author's Note: **Well...I really have nothing to say about this chapter. Except that it was a bit of a challenge to write, because...well, you know, movie sequences. So yeah. Boring author's note. :P_

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**Chapter 14-Storm Giants?**

_Don't look down, _Karra told herself. _Don't look down, don't look down. _The path through the mountains was _very _narrow, it was nighttime, and it was storming, making the rocks beneath her feet rather slippery. She pressed herself as close to the cliff as she could and stepped gingerly, trying her very best to keep her footing. Several times she had slipped, nearly causing herself a mini heart attack. There was no way that was happening again. She clung to any small outcroppings she could find, but most of them were slippery with rain.

A sudden crash of thunder made her jump. "Hold on!" Thorin shouted. Before Karra knew what was happening, she felt something move underneath her feet, and suddenly she was looking down into a chasm. With a gasp and a little shriek, she jumped backwards and found herself slipping and sliding away from the gap, only to lose her footing and fall to her bottom, _hard, _on the narrow rock path. She shrieked again and tried to scramble back up as she slid towards the edge. Just then, she felt someone helping her up, pulling her to her feet. She looked up to see….in the moment of stress, her mind went completely blank on who it was. Ori? "Thanks," she muttered.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin shouted above the wind and thunder and noise.

"Watch out!" Dwalin cried, and Karra looked up to see a huge boulder hurtling towards them. She shrieked again _(was this, what, like the third time? She was such a wimp) _and pressed herself further back into the cliff wall, if that was even possible, as the boulder hit the cliff above them with a deafening crash, and shattered, sending not-so-small chunks of rock showering down upon them.

"This is no thunderstorm!" shouted Balin. "Look!"

Karra looked up and nearly shrieked again. A piece of the mountain was actually _moving_! Moving, like it was alive! The _thing, _whatever it was, reared up from the mountain, and using what looked to be an arm, ripped a huge piece of stone out of the cliff.

"Well, bless me, the legends are true!" exclaimed Bofur. "Giants! Stone giants!"

"What's a storm giant?" Karra cried, as the boulder flew past them and hit another….storm giant, was it? in the….was that its head? Little pieces of rock broke off and came showering down around them. Karra, rather embarrassingly, found herself clinging to Oin, who happened to be standing beside her. All at once the stone beneath her feet began to move, and everything seemed to careen backwards. Karra let out a little cry as she saw that the path they were standing on was splitting, taking half the company with it. She gasped as everything whipped forward, and clung even harder to Oin. She vaguely heard someone calling her name, but then everything slid again, and a wave of dizziness and nausea swept over her. She tried desperately to hold onto something as the world around her careened back and forth.

With a jarring jerk, the path slammed into another section of rock, and Karra found herself following the others as they scrambled onto the new section. She slipped and caught herself, breathless, on an outcropping. Apparently the rock they were on now was a giant, too, for the ground began to move again, and Karra felt like she might throw up. Finding Gloin convenient, she wrapped her arms around him and hung on.

A giant's fist slammed into the cliff dangerously close to them. Karra shrieked again and ducked just in time as rocks fell about them, and slid to her bottom. Gloin helped her up as the ground careened backward again, and more boulder-size rocks fell past them.

The cliff moved again, and for a moment, Karra saw the other part of the company as they moved past them.

"Kili!" she heard Fili shout. "Karra! Kili!" And then they were out of reach, and as the giant moved backwards again, and Karra watched in transfixed horror as another giant's knee moved forward and slammed directly into the cliff—exactly where she thought the rest of the company was. The giant fell backward, and appeared to lose its footing, falling into the chasm.

And then everything was still. "Fili!" Karra cried, and rushed forward and around the corner, fully prepared to find nothing, or to find the rest of the company smashed to bits. Rounding the corner, she saw them lying there and gasped. "Oh no. Oh no," she said softly, but then, Balin called out,

"It's all right! We're alive!" With an enormous sigh of relief, Karra ran forward and singled out Fili.

"You're alright! I thought you'd been smashed!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. But then, suddenly, Bofur called,

"Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?"

"There!" shouted Ori, pointing to the edge. And there was Bilbo, hanging off the edge of the cliff, holding on desperately. Karra gasped and rushed forward with the others, but she couldn't quite bring herself to lean far enough over the edge to lend Bilbo a hand as the others were. Nothing worked; no one could reach him. Suddenly Thorin was swinging himself off the edge to reach the hobbit. Karra nearly screamed again, until she realized that he had landed on a small ledge and was hoisting Bilbo up.

The relief was short lived. Without warning, Thorin was now hanging off the edge of the cliff. Karra pushed forward with a little cry, trying her best to help this time; but Dwalin had already grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

But the next moment, Karra noticed that she had somehow ended up way too close to the edge. For she lost her footing, and suddenly she felt her world slip out from under her.

It took her a split second to realize that she was falling. When it hit her, she threw her hand upward and reached for something, anything, and found herself hanging off the cliff by one arm.

"Help!" she cried. "Help me!"

"Grab my hand!" she heard Fili yell. Reaching up with her free arm, she let go for one second and felt a rush of air as she fell. But then someone had grabbed her by both arms and was dragging her up. For a moment, she hung there, gasping, and then she was sitting on firm ground again.

"Don't ever do that again," she heard Fili whisper in her ear.

"Don't do what?" she gasped.

"Scare me like that."

For a minute, Karra just sat there, gasping trying to regain a feeling of normalcy. Her head spun, and she felt like she could throw up. She felt Fili's arms go around her waist, and she could tell that he had been genuinely frightened for her for a moment.

She glanced Bilbo's direction. He was dusting himself off and looked just about as scared as she probably did. She managed to give him a weak smile, though he probably didn't see her.

"I thought we lost our burglar," Dwalin eventually said, looking at Bilbo.

"I thought we lost Karra," Fili piped up.

"Bilbo's been lost ever since he left home," Thorin said harshly. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."

Karra wondered for a second if Thorin felt the same way about her. But then she was being gently helped to her feet, and she found herself following the others, still a bit dazed, wondering what exactly had just happened.

It took Karra a moment to realize when the company stopped. But apparently they had just walked into a cave. For a minute everyone looked around, then Dwalin said, "It looks safe enough."

"Search to the back. Caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied," Thorin advised. Dwalin raised his lantern, which had somehow not broken through all of that, and thoroughly examined the place.

"There's nothing here," he finally announced.

Karra was still a bit uncertain. "Yeah, well, how do we know we're not inside one of those storm giants?" she asked nervously.

"Stone giants," Kili corrected her.

"Whatever." Karra shrugged and looked around. "But somehow I don't trust this place."

Apparently everyone else did, though. "Let's get a fire started," Gloin said matter-of-factly, plopping a bundle of wood down on the floor.

"No," said Thorin. "No fires, not in this place." Well, at least Thorin agreed with her! "Get some rest," he ordered. "We start at first light."

"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us," Balin protested. "That was the plan."

"Plans change," Thorin replied with a _yeah, well, get over it _attitude. "Bofur, take the first watch."

Soon everyone was settled and basically asleep. Karra wondered how they could sleep after what had just happened. _She _couldn't seem to calm down. She tossed and turned, sat up, laid back down, tried various positions, but to no avail. It wasn't that she was _uncomfortable, _exactly; she had arranged her blankets in such a way as to provide a measure of comfort on the stone floor. But she couldn't get that falling feeling out of her head. She kept replaying over and over in her mind that moment when she had lost her footing and the ground had slipped out from under her. That sudden loss of control….for a moment, she had wondered what it would be like to dash to pieces on the rocks….she was falling….

Karra opened her eyes quickly. She had fallen asleep and was having a nightmare. Turning over, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out that feeling. Restless, she turned over again. She noticed that Bilbo was apparently awake, too and he and Bofur were apparently having some sort of conversation. Not that she meant to eavesdrop, well maybe she did, but she perked up her ears to listen.

She barely caught the tail end of the conversation. "I wish you all the luck in the world, I really do," Bofur was saying. As she watched, Bilbo turned and began to walk away. She barely had time to wonder what has happening before she heard Thorin shout, "Wake up!"

Before she had time to wonder what was happening _now, _the ground collapsed out from under her. Suddenly she was falling again. And then she hit something hard, and she was sliding down some kind of chute. The twists and turns reminded her vaguely of a slide at a waterpark, except not nearly as fun. She slid, bouncing off walls and floors, bumping her head several times. And then suddenly everything disappeared and for a moment, she was falling through the air again.

_Squelch. _Everyone landed with a thud on top of one another, groaning. Karra struggled to sit up. "I am going to be _so _sore tomorrow," she grumbled, but was cut short when she looked up to see the ugliest things she had ever seen coming towards her.

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_I'm not in a real creative mood right now. So I'll just say I like reviews. And that I'm sorry this chapter was so short. I have nothing more to say. _


	15. Chapter 15-Goblin-Town

_**Author's Note: **Due to Easter travels and stuff, I didn't have as much time to look this chapter over before posting. So please forgive me if you find any typos or mistakes or anything like that. __  
_

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**Chapter 15-Down in the Deeps of Goblin-Town **

Karra nearly shrieked again as the horrible things swarmed over them. "What's happening?" she cried. "Will someone please tell me what's happening?" She was pulled to her feet by one of the….things….and roughly searched. She struggled and kicked and tried to punch it in the face before thinking to reach for her sword. She managed to get a brief hold on it amongst the chaos, and noted suddenly that it was glowing an odd sort of white. But before she could do anything, she found it roughly confiscated and felt herself being swept along with the crowd of monsters.

"Bilbo!" she cried. "Fili! Kili! Anyone!" Something grabbed her and clapped a hand over her mouth, and she smelled a horrible stench; she nearly gagged. She was pushed forward and dragged and hit and roughly patted over by several of the ugly creatures. She tried to fight back as best she could without her weapon, punching several in the face, kicking, struggling as hard as she could. But the whole company was irrevocably drawn forward by the sheer mass of the crowd of creatures.

Karra somehow managed to kick one of the things over the edge of the tiny bridge they were being led across. It fell with a scream down into the chasm below. Before she had time to feel even remotely satisfied with herself, one of the creatures grabbed her by the arm and roughly pushed her forward. She pushed back and tried to kick it in the shin, but it just kicked her back, and she fell flat on her face.

"Get up and move," it growled, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to her feet.

"But you pushed me over!" she gasped, and was rewarded for her attempted sauciness by a slap across the face.

"Get movin'," it growled, grabbing her around the waist and shoving her forward.

"Don't touch me like that!" she cried, slapping it across the face. It shoved her forward into another creature, which grabbed her and shoved her forward again. Another grabbed her hair and pulled it, presumably just for the fun of it.

"Ow!" she shrieked, whipping her hair out of the way and turning quickly to kick the goblin in the shin. But she was grabbed and tossed forward, landing dangerously close to the edge of the skinny bridge. She gasped and picked herself up as fast as possible, trying to keep her balance and not be shoved off by the throng. She was pushed forward again, grabbed and pushed forward, and so on and so forth. The mob of creatures herded the company through their caverns, roughly pushing them forward and squelching all attempts to fight back by their sheer numbers. Finally the seemed to have come to something, for the whole group came to a stop.

Karra looked up and saw a sight that was uglier than any she had ever seen. A huge creature sat on what appeared to be a throne. He was uglier than any she had seen yet. And she had thought orcs and wargs were ugly! This thing was horrible. It looked like it was made of _mucus, _and its chin dangled to the ground, swaying like a blob. Karra winced. _Gross. _

And what was worse, Karra realized a moment later, was that it, and the other creatures, were _singing. _Several were pounding on ugly metal cymbals, and all of them were singing a horrible song with their horrible voices. When Karra tried to cover her ears, she got her hands roughly pulled down and held down. She tried not to listen to the words, which were just as horrible as the music. They were singing something about smashing and snapping, and various other forms of torture. Karra caught the words 'goblin town' several times. _Goblins. _Well, the name fit.

The thing stood up and walked towards them, still singing with its horrible voice. Karra was glad she was in the back of the group….she couldn't have handled having that monster coming so close to _her._ It hit a note, and began to spin around in some sort of dance. Finally, the song ended with a crash, and the goblin king sat back down on his 'throne' and said proudly, "Catchy isn't it? It's one of my own compositions."

"That's not a song, it's an abomination!" Balin cried, voicing Karra's exact thoughts.

"Abominations, mutations, deviations….that's all you're gonna find down here," the thing said, with a certain amount of pride in his voice, Karra thought with a grimace. It leaned forward and said harshly, "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves?" Its voice grew louder. "ASSASINS?"

A small goblin stepped forward. "Dwarves, your Malevolence."

"Your Malevolence," Karra muttered. "What a perfect title."

"Dwarves?" the king goblin sounded genuinely confused.

"We found them on the front porch," replied the same small creature.

_You have a lovely front porch, _Karra thought.

"Well, don't just stand there!" ordered the Malevolence. "Search them! Every crack, every _crevice_!"

"Oh, right, I have crevices," Karra said sarcastically to the nearest dwarf, but her comment was cut short as a creature jumped on her and began to roughly pat her down. It pulled her hair (apparently these things liked to pull her hair) ran its hands thoroughly over her, and pulled her belt off. After it was apparently satisfied, it let her go and shoved her backward with a maniacal laugh. She steadied herself and bit her lip to keep from throwing an abusive comment at the thing. It might not be the best thing to do at the moment.

Apparently the search was finished, for everyone seemed to be standing still. Glancing at the others, she saw that they all looked rather defiant. She stood up straighter and tried to copy them.

The goblin king was examining an elven candelabra he had apparently pulled off of one of the dwarves. "Made in Rivendell?" he said, turning it over. "Bah. Second age….couldn't give it away." And with that, he tossed it aside, and it clattered down into the abyss. "What are you doing in these parts?" he growled, leaning forward.

The entire company stared defiantly at him…it. He…it…became rather angry. "Speak!" it shouted.

Karra saw now that Oin was pushing his way forward. "Don't worry lads….I'll handle this," he said quickly. At any other time, Karra would have added _and one lass, _but she didn't really want to draw attention to herself.

"No tricks!" cried the goblin king. "I want the truth—warts and all!"

"You're going to have to speak up," Oin said with the closest thing to sauciness Karra had ever heard in his voice. "Your boys have flattened my trumpet."

"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" the goblin king shouted, and stomped towards Oin angrily. Bofur quickly pushed forward and held up a hand.

"If it's more information you're wanting, I'm the one you should speak to!" he said quickly. The king goblin pulled back for a moment and paused, as if saying, hmmm, this might do. "We were on the road," Bofur quickly began, before he could be stopped. "Well, it's not so much a road as a path….well, come to think of it, it's not even that….it's more like a track. Anyway," he prattled on, "the point is that we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't! Which was a problem, because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday." It was obvious the goblin king was getting irritated by now. If the situation wasn't so dire, Karra would have giggled, because Bofur sounded exactly like she did sometimes.

The goblin king grew more impatient by the moment. Dori pushed forward and said, "Visiting distant relatives."

"Mmmhmm," Bofur agreed. "Couple of inbreds on me mother's side."

"Shut UP!" the king goblin bellowed angrily. "If they will not talk, then we'll make them _squawk_!" Its voice grew louder. "Bring up the mangler! Bring up the bone breaker!" it shouted, savoring the words as if it enjoyed them. "Start with the-" it began, and then its gaze suddenly shifted to the back of the group. Karra stiffened. She felt its ugly eyes boring into her. "What's this?" it growled. Still staring at Karra, it continued, "Bring that one forward." Karra felt herself being shoved and pulled forward. She didn't resist. It was too much effort. But she did try to stare defiantly at the monster king. She wasn't sure if she succeeded or not.

"This one is different," growled the thing. "Aha!" it exclaimed. "A lady!" It made a mock bow to her. "Ladies first!" Straightening up, it bellowed, "Start with the lady!"

Karra nearly felt her heart stop. She shrunk back and was pulled forward again. And then she heard a shout.

"Wait!" called Thorin, stepping forward.

The king's attention was suddenly directed away from Karra. "Well, well, well," it said sarcastically. "Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain." It gave Thorin a _very _sarcastic mock bow. _What is with this guy and mock bows. _

"Oh!" said the goblin king, straightening up from 'paying homage.' "But I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain." Karra glanced at Thorin. He stared the thing in the face defiantly. "And you're not a king," it continued. "Which makes you…nobody, really." It pretended to look sad. Karra took the opportunity to sneak back and hide in the middle of the group. She found herself standing beside Fili. As if to comfort her, he put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned her head on his and tried to keep from crying from nervousness.

The king monster leaned in closer to Thorin. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," it said. "Just a head," it chuckled. "Nothing attached." Karra shuddered. The rest of the group reacted pretty much the same way.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak." The goblin grinned evilly. "An old enemy of yours. A pale orc astride a white Waag!"

"A white what?" Karra mumlbed nervously. "I didn't get that."

Thorin was saying something Karra couldn't quite hear. And then, "He was slain in battle long ago!" he exclaimed.

The king leaned in closer. "So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" A creepy little goblin in a basket came flying up on a rope. "Send word to the pale orc," the king said to the goblin that was obviously a scribe of sorts. "Tell him I have found his prize!" The creepy little thing wrote something and flew off on some sort of rope and pulley system, cackling manically. Before she knew what was happening, Karra found herself being yanked away from Fili. One of the little monsters put his arms around his waist and practically carried her to another.

"His majesty said to start with the lady," the thing grinned evilly. "Here." It tossed Karra at another goblin, which caught her roughly and pulled her hair. What was with these creatures pulling her hair? Was it interesting or something?

She tried to kick in in the face, desperately struggling and punching. She managed to break free, only to be picked up by another and tossed again, landing dangerously close to the edge.

The king of the goblins began to sing another song, this one having something to do with bones being shattered and necks being wrung, but Karra didn't have time to shudder at the words; she was too busy trying to struggle out of the grips of multiple creatures.

Suddenly she heard a great yell from the goblin king. She looked up to see him jumping to his throne as if something had scared him. She suddenly thought he looked like a squeamish lady who had seen a mouse. The thought almost made her laugh.

"I know that sword!" he shouted, fear evident on his face. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the Blade that sliced a thousand necks!"

Without warning, Karra found herself being grabbed and tossed again. _Another _goblin caught her and shoved her into another's arms. All at once she felt a searing pain in her cheek, and something dribbled down her face. She barely had a moment to realize that it was blood. The goblin king began to shout something about "Kill them all! Cut off his head!" Karra was desperately shoving her way through the hoard of goblins, trying to see what was happening…..

Suddenly everything went quiet. A bright light shone in her eyes. Karra gasped and fell backward. _What was happening? _The brightness seemed to grow, and push everything back before it. Karra closed her eyes….after a moment, she opened them again to see a tall silhouette coming towards them. For a moment she was frightened. Another enemy?

Then the recognition hit her like a slap. "Gandalf!" she shrieked. The dimmed lights began to glow again, and everyone sat up, staring at Gandalf.

"Take arms," he said slowly. And then, with a shout, "Fight. Fight!" Everyone jumped to their feet, and suddenly everything was chaos. Karra desperately kicked and punched her way through the mass of creatures, only thinking to get to her sword. She noticed through the mess of fighting that some of the dwarves had managed to get to the pile of weapons. Suddenly the sword was flying towards her.

"Catch it!" she heard someone yell. And she caught it. By the blade. _Ouch. _Not a good idea. Ignoring the blood oozing from the cut on her hand, she switched the sword to the other hand and was soon desperately fighting for her life. She was thankful she had had at least _some _training in how to use the thing. She managed to give on goblin a nasty cut on the arm, and, whirling, sliced another across the neck, not quite killing it. It fell to the ground whimpering, and Karra raised her sword and drove it downward into the goblin's chest, this time actually killing it. She kicked the body over the edge and saw it fall into the abyss.

It suddenly hit her what she'd had done. She had _killed _something. This was the first time she'd shed blood with this sword. For a moment she just stared at it, noting absently that it was glowing an odd sort of white, through the blood stains that is. She barely had time to process the fact that she had just murdered someone, before she had to turn and defend herself against a goblin approaching her, obviously seeking to push her off the edge. Almost mechanically, she shoved the sword in the direction of the creature's heart. She missed, however, and goblin dodged out of the way. She suddenly heard Gandalf's shout, "Follow me!"

Karra looked wildly around, trying to figure out which way everyone was heading. Finally she spotted Gandalf and headed his way, randomly shoving her sword every which way, hoping she'd hit something. She caught up with the dwarves and stopped for a moment, leaning over and breathing hard.

"We have no time for that!" cried someone next to her. "_Come on_!" The dwarf pulled her by the hand and practically dragged her forward.

"Alright!" she cried. "I can run by myself!" Jerking out of the dwarf's grasp, she ran as fast as she could across the rickety swaying bridge, willing herself not to look down. Pretty soon, however, she was in the back of the group. One of the goblins running after them approached her and grabbed. _Oh no, not again. _

"Can you see the bottom?" it hissed in her ear.

"N-n-no," she quavered.

"Well, you will soon!" it exclaimed triumphantly, and began to pick her up, obviously intending to throw her over the edge. And then suddenly it let out a scream and spun around, dropping Karra on the bridge. She looked up to see Fili holding both of his swords crossed at the goblin's throat.

"Don't you hurt her," he said quietly, almost _fiercely, _just before slicing off the goblin's head and kicking the body over the edge, _hard_. Karra shuddered as the head rolled toward the edge and stopped just before falling off.

Fili gently helped her to her feet. "Are you alright?" he asked hurriedly.

Karra winced. "I guess." She shrugged. "I mean, I'm as alright as I'm going to be, considering….." She was interrupted by a hideous goblin yell, and Fili grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him, yelling over the din, "Come on!" They ran to catch up with the rest of the group which was now onto another bridge. Karra slashed her sword back and forth, sometimes getting lucky and actually managing to hit a goblin with it. Fili wielded his double swords expertly, cutting down goblin after goblin. Karra found a moment or two amongst the chaos to be a little embarrassed at her own measly skills. Slowly but surely, they worked their way back up to the group, which was now about _two _bridges ahead of them. The finally found themselves in the middle of the group that was now running across a _very _rickety bridge. Karra bit her lip as she thought what would happen if she made one wrong step through those unevenly spaced boards.

They were across the bridge and onto solid ground again now, fighting for dear life. Karra swung her sword one way and another, desperately trying to remember everything Fili had taught her about using it. Hold the sword right, stance, don't drop the sword, stay alive. That last one was her main focus. She managed to deliver a couple of nasty cuts, but that was about all. Suddenly she felt a searing pain in her own arm. She gasped and stared at the blood dripping down her right arm. _Great. I'm right handed. _She switched the sword to her left hand, and felt horribly clumsy. So she switched it back, trying to ignore the searing pain every time she moved her arm. Vaguely, she heard Thorin shout, "Cut the ropes!" She saw a platform full of goblins swing out, about to fall, only to be caught as others on ropes spiraled around it. _Nice one, Thorin, _she thought as she quickly and rather unexpectedly dispatched a goblin coming straight towards her.

Suddenly she was being pulled along with the group as they pushed a ladder before them, pushing goblins right and left. The came to a gap in the bridge, and setting the ladder down, they ran across it. Karra bit her lip and didn't look down. She jumped off onto the comparatively solid bridge just as someone knocked the ladder down and it fell into the abyss.

Karra managed to get herself into the middle of the group, and let herself be pulled along and somewhat protected by the surrounding dwarves. She let her sword arm rest for a moment and regretted it as pain flooded into the wound. She gasped and forced herself to continue running.

They ran again onto a very unstable bridge. Before Karra knew what was happening, someone had cut the bridge loose and they were swinging forward. She heard a cry of "Jump!" The bridge swung forward, and she closed her eyes and jumped blindly. She let out a sigh of relief and opened her eyes as when she landed on the other side. As she looked back, the bridge swung back, and goblins swarmed onto it, attacking those still on the swinging platform. As it swung forward again, the others jumped off, cutting the ropes of the bridge behind them, letting it fall into the chasm. Karra was pulled along again. They ran on, Karra gasping for breath and still desperately trying to ignore the pain in her arm as she swung her sword back and forth.

Suddenly there was a great flash of white light, and a boulder large stone dropped in front of them. Karra nearly shrieked. She was startled until she realized that Gandalf had dropped the boulder, and they were pushing it in front of them. She heard the horrifying squish of goblins being flattened beneath rolling boulder as they ran behind it. The stone rolled off a corner, and they continued on, running and fighting. They ran onto another rickety bridge. As they ran across it, there was suddenly a huge crash. A large ugly figure rose up before them….the goblin king. Karra nearly shrieked again. The entire company came to a stop and stared at the huge thing.

It grinned. "You thought you could escape me?" it laughed, swinging its staff scepter thing down onto the bridge right in front of Gandalf. Gandalf ducked and jumped back.

"What are you gonna do now, wizard?" the thing sneered. Gandalf raised his staff, and poked it in the eye. It drew back, crying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

_What a wimp, _Karra thought, and smiled grimly.

Gandalf drew his sword back and sliced the goblin king across the stomach. It practically screamed, and fell to its knees.

"That'll do it," it said matter-of-factly.

Gandalf sliced its chin, and it fell on its face. Karra couldn't help giggling a little at the slightly comical sight. As Gandalf drew back and raised his sword for the final strike, Karra suddenly heard a cracking beneath her feet. She looked down to see the bridge moving.

Before she knew what was happening, they were falling. Karra clung to the board above her, only to let out a cry and let go as a pain shot through her arm. The platform crashed into a wall, and Karra gasped and let out another cry as her body slammed into the rock wall, snapping her neck back into a painful position. As she desperately tried to hold onto the falling platform, she felt little tingles of pain up and down her neck.

They landed with a crash. Karra cried out again as pain sot first through her arm, then her neck. She tried to wiggle out of the mess, but found she was pinned under _Bombur, _for goodness sakes, and there was no getting out from under him.

"Well, that could've been worse," someone said. _Are you kidding? _Karra thought.

Suddenly there was a crash, and Karra felt a board slam into her face, setting off another wave of pain as she suddenly remembered the cut on her cheek. She looked up through the boards to see the body of the goblin king lying on top of them.

"You've got to be joking," Dwalin growled. The all began to wiggle out from under the ruin of the bridge. Karra sighed with relief as Bombur moved off of her, and she could move again. As she painfully began to make her way out from under a board, she heard a yell. Forgetting all pain for a moment, she jumped up and shrieked as she saw hundreds, no, thousands, of goblins rushing down upon them.

"There's too many; we can't fight them!" Dwalin exclaimed.

"Only one thing can save us now!" Gandalf said desperately. "Daylight!" He motioned quickly for them to follow him.

Karra felt pure panic descend on her. "Run?" she squeaked. "I can't run!" She tried to take a step forward and cried out again at the sharp pain in her arm and neck. She tripped and fell to her knees. "Don't leave me!" she cried.

And then she felt arms around her waist, helping her up. "I'll help you," she heard Fili's voice in her ear. He practically lifted her up and carried her, running to catch up with the others. Karra gasped at the sudden pain again, and the realization that Fili was….carrying her.

"Are you alright?" she heard him say, through a haze of pain and exhaustion.

"I—don't—think—so," she gasped as they ran towards the entrance, and towards the precious daylight.

* * *

_That was quite possibly the longest chapter I've written yet. That was like the mother of all movie sequences to write. It just kept going and going and going. Phew! I hope you liked it._

_I may or may not be updating for the next week and a half. We'll be on vacation, some of which time I will not have internet access. So if I don't update for a bit, that's why. _


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